Road Trip
by lovethemvamps
Summary: Could be a few chapters could be more depending on where the story goes. Sookie gets a surprise. Possibly rated M for later chapters
1. Chapter 1

I do not own the characters that I write about. they are the sole property of Charlaine Harris and her publishing company. This is all original from my head and I am poor so please dont sue!

A/N: CH gave us a hint that the knife used in ATD would be used again.... this is my own idea of what happened. I could be and probably am very wrong about what will happen in the next book. this is just my idea.

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Enjoy!

_Valentine's Day is just around the corner! _The cover of Februarys Vampire Monthly magazine declared. _Modern and classic traditions for and you and human companion! _"Classic" meant substantially more than 100 years old to most vampires and since Valentines Day was really only marketed and promoted in the past century when vampires had been hiding their existence, they never really got the idea or knew of most Valentine's Day traditions. My subscription to the magazine had been a gag gift from Holly and the girls at Merlottes (Arlene of course excluded) because it was basically the vampire version of Cosmo complete with make-up tips for going to a vampire bar to advice on "how to tame yourself when in bed with a human" for those vampires who were a little to rough in the sack. Since then it's become a staple in my magazine collection. Of course I still read the trashy gossip magazines to find out what's going on in the crazy lives of Britney, Paris, Lindsay and all the other famous stars who are only famous for their off screen behavior. Saying that, I also have subscriptions to Time and AVL for both human and vampire real life (or death) issues.

Flipping through while the coffee pot was finishing brewing coffee, I came across an article headlined " Vampire Wedding Traditions" It was getting close to Valentine's Day and wedding season was just around the corner. More and more states were becoming open to mixed species marriages its only natural that the magazines would too.

I have only been to one vampire wedding and that was between two vampires, men at that, so legally I doubt they weren't even married, but mortal laws don't really come to mind for the centuries old marriage traditions. It was a strange experience, thinking back to it I giggle at the thought of Eric being a priest wearing the dramatic black cloak, I sometimes daydream and think of him in a Catholic pope get up compete with the red Prada shoes. I felt a chill down my spine and my smile fade quickly when I remembered what happened after that wedding and under Eric's cloak. We were now blood bonded because of the events of that fateful evening. When it first happened I was mad as hell, but over time now I've come to grips with it as much as I can for now. I still don't know what this bond fully entails because a certain blonde vampire and been avoiding a certain conversation about certain recovered memories with a certain blonde telepath. I wasn't looking forward to our talk but I knew it needed to be done so we can move on and both fully understand each other.

_To Bond or not to Bond? _I don't think Shakespeare was thinking that one day there would be a pun of his work in a vampire grocery store magazine.

_When taking on a mortal mate and spouse, the vampire must decide if this mortal is trustworthy and responsible enough to handle a blood bond. Blood bonds should not be taken lightly, they are permanent and the only way to cut the tie is final death of either party. If the mortal wishes to cross over at any point in time, the bonded vampire should be the maker. Common practice is finalizing the bond during the marriage ceremony. Because public biting is illegal you and your mate should make a special trip together to pick out a ceremonial blade that would best represent both personalities. During the marriage ceremony common practice is for the reverend to take the blade and quickly cut a small incision on the mortals wrist first and while bleeding into the goblet, cut the wrist of the vampire and repeat the procedure. Some humans wish to naturally heal the cut on the wrist as a permanent scar of their marriage while others like to take the time for the bonded vampire to gently heal his or her mates cut with their own blood. After taking turns drinking from the goblet, it is up to you and your spouse to either have pre-written vows recited or vows that you have written yourself. Once fully bonded you and your spouse will enjoy a lifetime together in almost every sense of the word. Once again, we only condone blood bonds if both parties are fully aware of the lasting results and truly trust one another. Bonding is far deeper both spiritually and emotionally than any other form of marriage._

I was completely still. I noticed that my coffee finished brewing 10 minutes ago. I was staring at the article. I read it over again. "What the…" I said to myself. I read it 3 more times before I got up from the table to get a cup of coffee. "No… no way." Once again out loud to no one. Amelia's father had some close family friends coming into town and he wanted her there for the weekend, and Octavia went down to New Orleans too for a week to do something witchy and secret. All she said about it before she left was saying, "Some business needed to be taken care of." I didn't ask further.

Okay, so hypothetically according to the $3.99 Vampire Monthly magazine I was…..married to Eric. I couldn't even say the words out loud this time. No one has ever even talked about wanting to marry me. I take that back. One person did. He was sweet and caring, and actually really and truly good to me. I missed that Eric. A lot sometimes. But that person is now long gone and now what stood in his place was the politically fueled, ego charged, devious Eric. According to this magazine, my now hu… Nope. Can't say it, or even think it. But what I did think about was if I am reading this magazine, who else is?

Who knew that Eric and I are bonded? Well of course Eric, and I, Andre since he was standing right there. I don't think well have to worry about him telling though. Quinn knows because he caught us at the end of the act and we were still together at the time so I had to be honest with him. I haven't heard from Quinn since after his mom and sister paid me a rude visit harassing me for breaking up with him. Quinn called me about a week later after I got off work to apologize for them. He understood that I really did like him, I just have trust issues with men and he was just too much for me to handle right now. "I still think about you babe. I hope we can still keep in touch from time to time." He said ending the conversation. I wouldn't be opposed to seeing Quinn for a casual lunch or a phone call every now and then, its just I already have one ex-boyfriend who tries to take every possible chance he has to declare his love for me, I didn't want to take the chance of having another one do that indefinitely. "I'll see you around" I said before I hung up.

The only other person who knew about the bond was the king of Nevada, Felipe DeCastro. I don't peg the king of 3 states as much of a rag magazine reader so I don't think I have much to worry about there. As far as I knew Pam and Bill just thought that Eric and I were tied, much like the way Bill and I were before we broke up. Eric being able to feel my emotions and such. I don't think that either one of them knew about the third and final exchange.

Thinking harder I don't think ANYONE knew that Eric has used a blade to cut his own flesh, and according to this magazine a blade was needed to seal the deal for a legal ceremony.

"Oh boy" I sighed. "I gotta get out of here." I had today and tomorrow off courteous of taking double shifts earlier in the week and working the past 3 weekends in a row. I woke up this morning thinking that I would have a casual Saturday where I could sleep in late (which I did) stay in my PJs (which I am) all day and do whatever I want. Now I was racing around my house like a mad woman trying to leave it as soon as possible so I wouldn't be here all day alone with my thoughts and that damn magazine. "I am cancelling my subscription first thing Monday morning!" I tore the page out, folded it and put it in my wallet. That was defiantly going to be a BIG part of our "talk" next time I see Eric. I threw the magazine in the trashcan with all my might imagining the damn Vikings head at the bottom before walking out to my car and starting down my driveway.

I had no idea where I was going I just knew that I couldn't be alone in my house. I needed to get away. I blasted my radio singing along to whatever was on at my loudest just so I wouldn't think. That is one thing that I love about living in the country is you can sing at the top of your lungs with the windows rolled down and no matter how bad or good you are, you never have to worry about someone pulling up next to you and hearing. There are only a few stoplights and signs in Bon Temps and I was not going anywhere near them. In fact I was headed the complete opposite direction of town.

At about 4pm I was well away from my home near the border of Texas. I thought that maybe I could cross the state line only a mile or two before turning back around just to say I crossed a state line. When I remembered all I've had to eat today was cold coffee. I pulled off at the next exit and went into a quaint diner in what seemed to be a somewhat busier highway town. When the hostess set me at my table and left me a glass of water and a menu I heard my stomach rumble. Whenever stress enters my life the first thing to go is my appetite. I have to remind myself to eat constantly. "BLT sandwich please with a Sprite." I said with a smile to the dark haired waitress as she took my menu. "Sure thing Hun." She said back before heading over to the kitchen to hand in the ticket.

As I waited for my food I decided that I should look at my cell phone. I still am not used to having one. I never understood how people could become so attached to their phone. At work, Holly has forgotten it at home a few times and all day during her shift she is constantly calling her voicemail and saying over and over "I feel so disconnected from the world!" In a town like Bon Temps, if someone doesn't know where you are all they have to do is call a few key people and then they will know your whole days schedule. Sam is one of those few key people as the owner of one of Bon Temps very few bars. I pressed the button to turn it on and after a few beeps and chimes of trying to find service, I found that I have both voicemails and text messages waiting for me. "Hmm.." I questioned myself, last time I turned on my cell phone was yesterday morning to call Sam to tell him I was running 10 minutes late because I forgot to put gas in my car and the gas station down the road from Merlottes had gas for under $2.00 and you cant pass that price up anymore. Once I got to work though I turned it back off and I suppose I haven't turned it on since.

"3 new messages." My voicemail lady told me. "Sookie, this is Pam. Please call me back at Fangtasia as soon as you get this. You know the number." Okay. Second message 30 minutes later: "Sookie, I called Sam and he said you had already left for the evening, call me back as soon as possible." No please or thank you, must be important. Last but not least " Sookie this is Pam…again. I have tried to get a hold of you twice now and you are not responding. If I don't hear from you tonight expect us at your house tomorrow at first dark." Us? Who is "us"? The text messages were nothing more than "Call Fangtasia."

As my sandwich was arriving I turned back off my phone and put it back in my purse "Thank you." I said to the waitress exchanging smiles. Being a part of the restaurant worker family I know how wonderful it is to have a customer that is not only polite, but gets to the point with her order and uses common courtesy with please and thank yous. Dipping into her loud broadcaster brain unintentionally I found out she had been here since 6am and has been given pitiful tips all day. She was tired and ready to go home. She had about two and a half more hours to go until she had to pick up her son from daycare, get him home and to bed before she started all over again tomorrow at 6am. Sometimes I thought I had it pretty bad, but imagining this poor woman working 60+ hours a week to support her son all by herself with no husband or help or anything all on a highway exit diner waitress salary. Geez, I don't have it bad at all. _At least I have a husband._

I was pretty sure I was going to leave a mark on my forehead when I slapped it so hard after having that thought. _What in the world was I thinking! 'At least I have a husband.' My Lord. __Eric is NOT my husband! _I screamed in my head. If a vampire wrote that article, then is that how vampires see marriages? To vampires eyes are we married? A million and one thoughts were racing through my head as I ate. I went on this road trip to once again run away from my problems for a short time. After a few hours of singing with Kelly, Carrie and Taylor I almost forgot what problems I had, and now with one excursion into another person's brain I was calling Eric my husband.

I paid my bill and left my waitress a 30% tip, she was fast and efficient, and after hearing about her day it was the least I could do. I opened my door and sat behind the wheel in complete silence for about 5 minutes before turning on the ignition. I had to go back home. Pam left no indication as to what was so important on the voicemails and first dark is only about 45 minutes away. My clock said it 5:13pm. Eric would be awake soon and I was a good 2 ½ to 3 hours away. "Time to go home" I sighed to myself. My road trip only cleared my mind for the first half. Now on my way home I was more nervous than ever.

Once I saw the sun set over the horizon about an hour later, I pulled my phone back out of my purse and turned it on. Realizing that I don't have Eric or Pam's cell phone numbers and just Fangtasia's in my contacts I didn't know what to do to get a hold of Pam. Amelia! Her and Pam had a "thing" a while ago and maybe during that time Pam gave Amelia her cell phone number.

"Oh thank God Sookie!" Amelia squeaked. "You have no idea how welcome your call is! My father is going on and on and on about his business and all of his good doings to the Howard's. I don't know how much more of this I can take! I've thought about putting a stasis spell just so I can go and punch my dad in the nose while he's under just to prove a point that no one wants to hear about your stupid bid on some building in New Orleans!"

She said all this before I even got a hello in. I was guessing the Howard's were the family friend that Cope was entertaining for the weekend. "Well I'm glad I could help, but I actually was calling to ask you something, do you have Pam's cell phone number? They are trying to get a hold of me and the bar doesn't open for another couple hours." "Yeah, I have it in my contacts, hold on a sec."

After I got the number I chatted with Amelia for a few more minutes of how her weekend was going, then we said our goodbyes and hung up. Time to call Pam and find out the big problem.

"I am at your house and you are not."

"Your power of observation never ceases to amaze me Pam, really." I could have sworn I heard a chuckle through the phone.

"Why did you not return my calls last night?" Pam asked getting back to the subject.

"Well I didn't get off of work until after midnight and I was tired and wanted to go to bed. I turned my phone off earlier in the day and I guess I must of forgot to turn it back on."

"Where are you?"

"Umm, I wanted to go to an outlet mall for some shopping." Lying through my teeth. "I'm about 2 hours away from home. What is going on that is so important? You said 'us' on the phone, who is there with you?"

"It is just myself. I wanted to talk to you. Eric had wanted to tag along, but I convinced him it was purely going to be 'girl talk' so he is still at Fangtasia."

Well that surprised me. What did Pam want to girl talk with me about? "Oh..Okay. Well I'm sorry I didn't check my voicemail until it was too late. Do you want to wait at my house until I get there or do you want to have our "girl talk" another time?" _Please be anther time, please be another time._

"I'll wait. I am already here, I might as well enjoy some quiet time until you arrive." _Damn._

"Okay. What did you want to talk about anyway?" I was so scared I was going to regret asking that.

"Rhodes." _Ah oh._

"Oh… Okay. Well I'll see you when I get home then Pam!" I said way too cheerfully. The corners of my mouth hurt by holding that grin as tight as I could over the phone. My nervous habit of smiling broadly sometimes happens during phone calls too. Too bad the other person can't even see how big my smile it. Pam knows me well enough she could probably hear it in my voice.

"I can tell you are nervous, I'm not going to bite. That is of course unless you want me to." Now I could hear her smile. "We'll talk more when you arrive. Goodbye Sookie." Click.

The ride home now took forever. I took this trip to try to clear my head. Now after talking to Pam I had more thoughts than before? What did she want to talk about Rhodes for? Eric had already thanked me for saving his life. Pam and I, I imagined were on well enough terms that I knew of her gratitude. Maybe she just wanted to sit down just the two of us and thank me in person. That was the only thing I could think of. If I were a nail biter I could guarantee I wouldn't have any nails left by the time I pulled into my driveway next to Pam's car. I walked into my unlocked back door to my kitchen to see Pam sitting at the table looking like she was in vampire downtime.

"I'm back." I said softly not to startle here. But then I remembered she is a vampire and I don't think I had what it takes to startle her.

"Where are your bags? I'll help you bring them in." She asked getting up immediately.

"What bags?" I said totally unaware.

"You said you went shopping at an outlet mall. But now I can tell that was not true. Where did you go Sookie?" she said narrowing her brows.

"Well.. I uh, went to the outlet mall, but I didn't see anything I liked so I decided to window shop instead. So that's what I did." Another big fat fake smile. "So what about Rhodes did you want to talk about." I said trying to change the subject and fast.

"Eric told me." No emotion or clue on her face to what she was talking about.

"Eric told you what?"

Pam then did something that made my heart just about jump out of my chest and all the blood drain from my face.

She pulled my Vampire Monthly magazine out of the trash and opened it to the page that I had torn out. Then she reached into her own bag and pulled out what I am assuming her copy and opened it to the same page that was still intact. I sat down and just stared at her.

"Like I said, Eric told me what happened."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Well Pam, I don't know what you want me to say. If Eric has already told you what happened then what did to want to talk about?" I had that shaky feeling you get in the middle of your chest where you feel like your whole body is about to convulse or break into tears, or worse; a painful combination of the two. Pam just hit me with a ton of figurative bricks and after the emotional roller coaster I'd been on all day I felt as though this is the last thing I needed.

" This article Sookie, you obviously read it if you tore it from the magazine."

"Yes, I read it. I read it and realized that I had been lied to." Tears were welling up and I was doing my best not to let a single one fall. I was too angry to cry. "No one lied to you Sookie, you knew that the third blood exchange was important. And from what I hear the other option didn't sound to appealing." Blech, no. The other option was defiantly NOT appealing. Bomb or no bomb the idea of being tied to Andre even for a day absolutely chilled me to the bone. "Well of course not. That's why I didn't fight Eric when I realized what was going on and what Andre was wanting to do to me! I knew the third exchange was important but I didn't know you guys considered it… considered it… a wedding!" I shrieked.

I knew I was beginning to lose my temper, and I knew that Pam wasn't deserving of it. She was being as nice as her personality would allow and she was actually talking to me and allowing equal give and take in the conversation.

"Its not marriage and a wedding in the way you think of a marriage and weddings." She said.

"Hey, I was at Mississippi and Indiana's wedding and Eric and I did pretty much the same thing just shorter and with no one else but Andre around. According to this article it sounds like we married each other."

"Sookie, you yourself just stated the difference. No one else was around and Andre is finally dead. Nobody besides you, Eric, the tiger and myself know. Eric only told me because I am his second in command and I need to know the level as to which I should go to protect him and you. Eric has not told anybody else and will not tell anyone until you give him the go-ahead. He understands that this is a lot for you to take in and he is willing to do whatever you need for you to come to peace with the bond."

"The king knows." I said looking at the floor.

"Bubba was there?"

That actually made me smile a genuine smile for the first time that day. After laughing off the idea of Bubba standing close by in his best spangled jumpsuit and sunglasses with a bible in one hand and his squirt bottle of fresh cat blood in the other marrying Eric and I like the common eloping Las Vegas couple I said "No, Felipe DeCastro."

"Well that actually works well in your favor." She said smiling. I couldn't tell if she were sincere in her smile or still picturing Reverend Bubba.

"How so?"

"Well if the King knows that you and Eric are bonded then you both get the extra protection needed. He now knows that you're off limits to other vampires. Vampires in our area as well as other states." I was getting confused and I was pretty sure Pam could see it in my face. She looked at me and saw it. "Say New York wants to use your gifts for some reason, normally New York would contact Eric who would then contact you. If you chose to not go along with New York's wishes then they could come after you and try to either convince otherwise or take you by force. Now that you and Eric are bonded, Eric will make those decisions for you. If Eric does not think it would be a good idea for you to go to New York, then you will not go. If New York has a problem with that they are not allowed to go after you on their own. They must go through Eric. That, with the kings formal protection for saving his life, I doubt many vampires will ever be going after you again."

Technically it was never vampires that came after me. Only one vampire that I can recall has ever made a serious attempt on my life and that was only to get back at Eric after he had staked another vampire for wanting to hurt me.

"Wait a minute." I said holding up my hand in a stop position. "Did you just say that Eric will be making decisions for me?" I was getting angry at the idea of Eric acting like some big misogynistic jerk that only wanted me in the kitchen and not having a life of my own.

"Sookie you misunderstand me." She sat down at the table and sat in the chair next to me. "You are being given freedom in a way. Your life will still be your life as you know it. Eric will only step in when other vampires want to use you for any reason. You will continue on tomorrow just as you have yesterday and the day before. You will actually hear less from Eric about being involved in vampire activities. Have you not noticed that already? If he does not like the idea of you working for someone then they get the axe then and there from him. He will only come to you for opportunities that he sees profitable."

Eric the pragmatic manager.

I scoffed. "So you're saying that I will now be _less_ involved with vampire politics?"

"In a way yes. You are still a very, very important asset to this kingdom. The kings knowledge of the bond is just a buffer and more beneficial to Eric considering if Eric would ever have to take action with another kingdom on your behalf, Felipe will have Eric's back so to speak, but the king still has final say."

"Oh well good for Eric. There is still the point that in vampire minds we are married." I said sharply.

"Yes and no. Yes because you are fully bonded and that is how we vampires declare ourselves as..." she paused looking for the right word. "mated, and the more blood you exchange the deeper the bond will be. No in the sense that no one who knows of it will tell, and that the knowledge of the bond will not be made public until your say so."

Hearing her say that I still have my life and most of it is still in my control was a big relief. I was still very upset but the initial shock of everything was finally wearing off. Looking at the clock it was a little after midnight and even though I slept in good and late, the emotional ride that I've been on all day was starting to take its toll.

"Pam I have to ask. Did Eric tell you to come talk to me about all of this?"

"Again yes and no." She curved her upper lip into just the smallest of smiles. "He saw the article last night and wanted me to call you to see if you read it yet. When you didn't answer last night he didn't know if you had taken off like you did earlier with you 'shopping trip' so he wanted me to come by and find you…"

I don't know if it was the lack of sleep, food, stress or some combination of all three but the thought of big bad Viking Eric reading trashy magazine articles about weddings and then big bad Bitchin Pam raising her little hands and using air quotes for "shopping trip" I burst into laughter! With the laughter came some of those pent up tears but I didn't care. Seeing a 200 year old blonde vampire woman who would like nothing more than to break my neck with her bare hands for laughing at her, use those very hands to make little air quotation marks with her fingers was just about the funniest thing id seen in a long time.

"I'm sorry" more laughter "Pam, really I'm so sorry, its just that was such a human thing to do, and one of the more annoying human things at that, its just so funny to see you do it!"

Pam didn't seem to see the humor.

"Okay… okay, I'll stop." Now I was just snickering and snorting trying to suppress laughter.

"When you compose yourself, I'll be right here waiting to finish our conversation." She said very coldly. I must of hit a nerve with laughing at the air quotes. I didn't mean to hurt her feelings, that is if she had any. It was late and that was just so funny.

"Okay Pam, I'm sorry. I'll behave I promise." I said with full composure and a smile.

"Good. Now as I was saying, he wanted me to come find you. He was half way here when you called me to say you were a couple hours away. He then turned around to go back to Shreveport and I was to stay here to make sure you made it back safely."

"Well I am here safe, and I enjoyed our," my turn for air quotes "girl talk." That got a smile out of icy Pam. "I have a lot to think about tonight and I think I might just take a nice bath and go to bed. Today was not what I expected it to be."

"I am glad that we were able to clear some things up. Eric wanted me to tell you that he will be by Monday night since Fangtasia is closed to see you. He will call you tomorrow for further details." She rose from the chair facing me. I followed suit and we were headed towards the door.

"Well I work the day shift at the bar Monday so that should work out okay."

"Very well. Sookie it was nice to see you tonight. Things will be easier now. Eric will be able to answer any more questions you might have. He just wanted me to see what you knew and if you read the article." She reached over and kissed me lightly on the cheek.

"Well thank you I guess." I was thankful to talk to Pam tonight. I was afraid with my new found knowledge that if I saw Eric first without knowing the whole story I would have just gotten way too angry and probably make an ass out of myself saying things that would later regret.

"Goodnight." And with that Pam went out to her car and started down my long driveway.

I closed and locked the door behind me and I finally had the house to myself. Most of the questions I had earlier in the day had been answered with only a few lingering that I suppose would have to wait for Eric. I decided to grab my phone out of my purse and turn it on since this whole mess started with my phone being off. I ran the bath I had been thinking about and got undressed while the tub was running. Sometimes a bath just does a body good.

When I got my PJs back on I hopped in the bed and started to read a mystery I had gotten from the library earlier in the week. When I finished with a few chapters my body told me it was time for bed. I looked at the clock. 3:22am. _At least I don't have to work tomorrow._

Just as my eyes were heavy enough that I was almost asleep I heard my phone do a strange beep. _Must be a text message. Only beeped twice instead of ringing. _I reached over my bed to flip open my phone and sure enough there was a text from a number I didn't recognize.

**Goodnight Lover, Sweet dreams. I will talk to you tomorrow.**


	3. Chapter 3

Charlaine Harris owns all the characters used in this fanfic. I am just borrowing. please don't sue

Thank you everyone for all your wonderful reviews! They make me want to write more! Please keep it up! I will try to get the next chapter out by Thursday!

A/N This all takes place Sunday

Chapter 3

After an unexpectedly peaceful night of sleep I woke up to slivers of sunlight creeping in between the window curtains onto my face. I really thought that my sleep would be tense and restless considering the events that happened the previous day, but surprisingly it was wonderful.

After drinking my coffee and dressing in my favorite long black slacks with a light pink V neck sweater I was ready to leave the house. I had worked the past 3 Sundays in a row at Merlotte's and now with the revelation that I was Eric's secret wife I decided church at noon should definitely be one of my top priorities for today. It seemed like I was going to need all the help I could get.

Reverend Thomas Campbell's service was shorter than I expected but then who wants to have exceptionally long sermons? Afterwards the congregation moved outside to catch up on town gossip. It seemed to be a tradition for our church. The women flocked together to talk about hair and men and cooking and the men got together to talk about cars and women and hunting. I always thought it was strange to gossip after church considering that the same people who are here you will most likely see every day in town.

After talking to Maxine Fortenberry about the latest sale on jackets Tara had at Tara's togs, Reverend Campbell came up to me and put his hand on my shoulder. "Sookie Stackhouse it is such a pleasure seeing you here today!" he said with a smile. "Well thank you, I really wish I could come every Sunday but I have to work most weekends."

"Well you are here now and that is what counts. I must say Sookie, you have given this town a scare in the past couple of years with your…relationships with the vampires. We thought for sure that when you were dating that Compton you would forget about the church and all of your family and friends. But through the grapevine I have heard that you have cut ties with them and now living freely."

"I have always lived freely." I said directly. I didn't want to get too upset with the reverend because he was just showing his concern for my well being, but to say that Bill or any of the others had taken away my freedom rubbed me the wrong way.

"I am just saying that for awhile there you always had a vampire around you. Whether it is a boyfriend or a houseguest. Merlotte's always seemed to have some sort of vampire stop by every day. But for the past couple of months it's been nice. Vampire Bill has stayed to himself and you have been socializing more in the daytime. Even your brother is married with a baby on the way. You two have really turned a corner."

_Oh Tom if you only knew. _ Eric and Pam had stayed away because of being busy with the new regime and hadn't had the time to visit. I imagined they had more important things to do in Shreveport. Bill was staying to himself and away from me because I told him that I didn't like that every time I saw him he would just look at me painfully and tell me how much he misses me and still loved me. Jason's story he had much more backwards. Jason and Crystals marriage was not ideal. Last I heard, since I was still not speaking to him more than a few sentences here and there was that he and Crystal were still in my parents house but sleeping in separate bedrooms. The baby would be due in a matter of weeks and Jason, having the same upbringing as myself knows that Gran or myself would never forgive him if he did not take care of the baby. Hoyt had told Holly who told me that once the baby is born Jason is going to get a paternity test to make sure that it was his.

"_I wonder if she would want to go out with my nephew next week when he comes into town... She needs a man with a heartbeat… Christopher would be good for her… Show her that those damn vamps want nothing more than her blood…Such a good girl, such a shame she had to be ruined by the damn bloodsuckers…I don't know if he would want vamp leftovers though…" _

I was appalled at his thoughts. I am a not leftover. At that moment I wanted to slap him across the face. But I couldn't. He didn't say anything out loud that called for that kind of come back. People were all around and if I slapped him they would just think I was Crazy Sookie attacking the reverend on Sunday after services. I would never live it down. Why anyone would want to be telepathic is beyond me.

"I'm glad you think so. Well I better be taking off, I have to run a few errands before I get home. " I wanted to get away from him as soon as possible before he could bring his nephew into the conversation. I couldn't imagine going on a date with some man and when he would ask about previous relationships telling him "Oh yeah, well right now I am sort of married to a vampire, but don't worry I can still date." I don't think that would go over too well. Maybe I was ruined. Eric and I needed to talk about this.

"Alright Sookie, you have a blessed day. " He was thinking if he should bring up Christopher as I started walking away. Too bad I couldn't run. "Um, Sookie, My nephew from Baton Rouge is coming into town next week, maybe you might want to show him around town? He's a real nice man. I bet you two would hit it off." He had such a sincere look on his face I almost forgot what he was thinking a few moments ago.

"Oh. Well..." I didn't know what to say to get out of the blind date. "I don't think I'm ready to start dating yet. I am enjoying time by myself." That should do it.

"_Probably waiting for a vamp... Damn girl is gonna be made into one of them one of these days… she's crazy enough as it is, to be a murderous monster on top of that…poor girl never had the chance…too bad there aren't enough stakes in the world to get rid of them all.."_

My eyes went wide and I looked at Reverend Campbell with an equal mix of hurt and anger. I scoffed at him, turned and started walking away without saying anything.

If this man of god was thinking such unkind words, I didn't want to know what others were as well. I walked over to my car and started to drive away. I went to church today to try and clear my head and do something nice for myself since I woke up in such a good mood. But instead I felt worse than yesterday and I was angry with our pastor on top of it. This weekend was not the happy, carefree weekend off of work that I was hoping for.

I went to the grocery to pick up food for the week, and scowled at Vampire Monthly magazine once I was in the checkout lane. That one magazine with the one article ruined my weekend. Now after talking with Pam last night I have to prepare for Eric. _Oh no, I forgot TrueBlood. The liquor store is on the way home I can just stop there. _ Since I hadn't had many vampire visitors in the past few weeks, I let my supply dwindle to nothing. I noticed this morning that Pam had finished off my last two bottles that I had in the fridge while she was waiting for me last night.

Eric was going to call me tonight, and I was going to see him tomorrow. I had always been nervous and kind of sad around Eric after last new years but I always had the upper hand because he couldn't remember our time together. After I told him of what happened, he didn't use the fact that I shot and killed Debbie Pelt or the fact of us having sex over every square inch of my house as ammunition for me to do his bidding in which I had an amazing sense of relief. After Rhodes I had been a strange combination of being giddy as a schoolgirl on Christmas Day, with newfound uneasiness of being able to feel his emotions along with my own mixed in with my own whenever I was around him.

Since the night of the Nevada takeover though and he actually remembering in full detail of both emotional and physical intimacy that we shared I catch myself missing being around him from time to time. I had been so angry yesterday I forgot about that. I have only seen him 3 times and talked to on the phone him a few times more for less than 10 minutes.

Almost a month ago was the last time I saw Eric. Bill had a get together at his house to show off a photo slide show of his trip to South America and a recent 2-week trip to India. He told me that he was sick of always telling the same story and showing the same pictures over and over to everyone he saw that he just wanted to get everyone in a room and do it all at once. There were about 15 vampires, almost all of them I knew of, and then about 10 humans myself included so I could understand Bill not wanting to tell the same story 25 times.

Amelia, Octavia, Tray and I had come a little early to see if he needed any help setting up and he had Octavia and I layout finger food for the people and Amelia arrange bottles of TrueBlood for the vampires on the table he set up in the kitchen. He wanted Tray to go outside and tell the first few people where to park so the others would follow and everyone would be able to leave easily. Once we all had finished the first guests began to arrive so we took some of the prime seats available in the front so we would knew we could get the full view.

He had taken the time to move all of his furniture out of the living room since it was the biggest room in the house. With vampire strength it couldn't have taken him long. He built or bought some kind of collapsible wall that he spread out over the back wall of the living room with a projector that he actually strategically placed in the ceiling opposite the screen. He set up chairs so organized that we were all very close to each other but we weren't sitting on each other's laps and had plenty of space.

Eric and Pam came in together through the front door dramatically opening both doors from the middle about 15 minutes later. Pam dressed in a khaki pant and a beautiful rose-colored expensive looking sweater. Eric was dressed in jeans of course but tonight we was wearing a plain black shirt under a leather jacket. Saying loudly so everyone in the room could hear "So how much are tickets tonight going for tonight Compton?" with a very Eric smile.

"Always has to be fashionably late." Bill commented lightly to me. He wasn't angry with Eric, he was just stating the fact that when Eric comes enters a room everyone has to be aware. "You know he always has to make an entrance." I said back with a little laugh.

What Bill didn't know was I was already aware of Eric's entrance 20 minutes ago after I sat down. I could feel his presence in the back yard of Bills house. He was just waiting there not moving. I am guessing Pam was with him. He wasn't fashionably late at all. He was either right on time or a little early in fact, he just didn't want to show that it because he was Eric and Eric only plays by Eric's rules and he just _cannot _show up to a get together on time. Since I was in such a cheerfully good mood all of a sudden in his presence I thought I wouldn't ruin it for him and tell Bill that he was here all along. I would let Eric have his fun.

Pam sat in the seat directly behind me and Eric was to her right. He was emotionally having a strange mix of boredom (Eric doesn't seem like the slide-show watching kind of guy) and excitement.

"Its good to see you Sookie." He said leaning in putting his hand on my shoulder. His touch had sent a wave of warmth down my body. I almost shut my eyes to take it all in.

"Good to see you too, you must have been _so_ busy tonight seeing how you were _so_ late to arrive. " I said sarcastically with a smile raising my eyebrows.

"Nothing I do gets past you Dear one, but you know I have an image to uphold." He said. He smiled and widened his eyes to look directly into mine, which made my heart flutter in happiness. He could feel that and he liked that he could make me feel that way. I have to admit I kind of liked it too. He then sat back because Bill got in front of the crowd.

"Now that everyone is here," Glaring at Eric. Of course Eric just made an 'I don't know what your talking about' kind of look with a big grin. "Lets get started." Bill pulled out his projector remote and began.

His pictures were amazing.

Bill is a natural storyteller so hearing him speak of the mountains and ancient ruins he saw and about the vampires he met was like watching a great movie. Everyone was silent and completely focused on him and the screen. I don't know if it was because we were all in his house on his land so he felt #1 at the time but that night he was incredible. I would get lost in his words and he would talk like you were actually there. He stood tall and looked great in a pair of dark slacks with a button down white and blue shirt. He seemed so relaxed talking and everyone in the room was relaxed listening. With that many vampires and that many possible vampire meals you might think there would be tense moments but there weren't any at all. We all visited the Taj Mahal and Elephanta Island. Every one of us stayed in the incredible hotel he was in. When it was over everyone was talking with another like we all were on the same trip. The only thing that I found strange about his presentation was that at every other slide show I have been to there were daytime pictures. The lack of sunlight on every single picture was somewhat strange. I knew of Bill's dabbling in photography and knew that a few of them he put a lot of time and effort into lighting effects.

It was the normal meet and greet, having small talk with everyone for about an hour after Bill finished the picture show. I had to work early the next day and it was already almost 2 in the morning so I said my goodbyes to everyone, thanked Bill for the wonderful evening and made my way to the door.

I got down the front steps when Eric suddenly appeared in front of me. "Let me walk you home." He said offering his arm. I took it. If it weren't for the fact that I could feel him getting closer seconds before he appeared I would have shrieked in freight. "Too bad. It seems as though I cannot sneak up on you anymore. That was always one of my favorite things, giving you a little scare, then seeing your face." He said with a mischievous smile.

"Too bad for you, not for me, I never liked that way to tease me."

We walked in silence for most of the way but it was very enjoyable. I am still amazed at how calm I feel when I'm around Eric. When I am by myself later I don't always feel the same way. It is a weird feeling not being completely sure of your emotions.

When we got to my front door we stopped before I opened it. He looked me directly in the eyes again. He looked like he wanted to kiss me and I could feel his desire. The last couple of times he looked like that he did kiss me. But I was dating Quinn at the time then so I had a very good reason to pull away. I had no reason that night. I didn't know if I were going to be able to pull away. He put his hands on either side of my face and just held my focus. I put my hands on is arms and slide them up to his shoulders and kind of nuzzled his palms. I was thinking there was no way to back out now. I was ready to take him on the porch right then and there and to hell with Amelia and Octavia when they walked home. They're grown women.

"Not tonight." Was all he said. He leaned in and kissed me so gently on the lips. The kiss lasted long enough to be amazing, but too short to feel completed. The only thing that could complete a kiss like involved the bed. He pulled back and held my hands in his own. "Nevada is keeping me very busy and away from you. I am not sure how much longer this will last. We will finish this soon. I promise."

Snapping back into reality, taking in the groceries I bought into the house I became really nervous about seeing Eric tomorrow night. I haven't seen him since the night of Bill's party and now thinking back on that night and how much I wanted to continue kissing him who knows if we would even talk. But we needed to talk. Now I know what I am to him in his eyes. This is a very big conversation we need to have.

Once the groceries were put away I snuggled up in the couch and turned on TV. I only really watch TV on my days off any more, and yesterday I was gone for most of the day so I didn't have the chance. I picked a crime movie that was on about people trying to steal money from a Las Vegas casino. I had never been to Vegas and always wanted to see the lights and hotels. Now the King of Nevada was also the king of Louisiana, I only imagine there will be a time soon where I'm going to go. Too bad I will probably have to work instead of play.

I heard my phone ring in the kitchen, the movie had just finished and I was still thinking of all lights and buildings.

"So where did you go yesterday?" Eric asked into the phone.

"Honestly? To Texas. I crossed the border to say I went."

"You have been to Texas before. I have been with you to Texas before. Why would you want to go again?"

"Well obviously I had a rough day yesterday and I needed some alone time. Going to Texas sounded like a good idea at the time to me so I went. I'm back in one piece so what's the big deal?" What I left out was the feeling of seeing how far could I go before I had to turn back.

"Sometimes your logic baffles me Sookie. Do you want to go with me to Texas again tomorrow night?" I'm guessing he did not want to elaborate on why yesterday was a rough day. I hope he really didn't plan on taking me to Texas tomorrow.

"No I think I have had enough if it for the time being. I will be sure to alert you of any urges I may have to go back to the Lone Star state."

"Make sure to alert me of any other _urges_ you may have." He said ever so smoothly that it could make you melt and barf at the same time. The words sound like a sleazy pick up line in a bar but coming from Eric's mouth was a totally different story.

"Will do…so what do you want to do tomorrow?"

"Are the witches still living with you?" He asked .

"No, they are both in New Orleans for a few days. Amelia will be back on Tuesday and Octavia whenever her secret witch business is taken care of." Was he planning on being alone with me in my house? _Uh oh._ I was starting to get excited about seeing Eric alone.

"Good... then I will be arriving most likely around 7. Does that give you enough time to get ready?" He sounded almost nervous. We were both avoiding talking about the magazine article. I sure was not going to bring it up on the phone first. In person maybe, but having important talks like that on the phone just did not appeal to me.

"I don't know, you haven't even told me what we are going to do or where we are going to go."

"I want to talk to you Sookie. We have much to talk about. It does not matter to me where. If you could, you could come up here or I could come to you. Pam told me that you were working during the day so I assumed 7 at your house would work best for you." He still sounded a little off but I wasn't going to press.

"Oh, Ok. Well then yes. 7 here would be just fine." I said cheerful to try to lighten the conversation.

"Very good. I will see you then. Have a good night Dear one." He sounded so sweet and sexy at the same time.

"You too Eric. Goodnight." I tried to sound just a sweet but not as sexy.

We hung up and I got butterflies. I always loved that feeling. With the butterflies also came uneasiness. I now knew almost everything he knew about our situation. And he knew that I knew. Tomorrow night would change everything I knew it. I have barely come to grips with the fact that I really did like Eric, and this Eric, the one with all the strings and power. After realizing that the Eric that I thought I more than liked at one point, the Eric that had stayed with me so long ago, was now a part of the other Eric. And I was about to be completely alone with the whole Eric in my house for the first time. I went to bed happy.

Mwah ha ha! You'll have to wait for the talk until the next chapter! Please review I love hearing your thoughts on my story! Like I said I will try to write as fast as I can!


	4. Chapter 4

Charlaine Harris and her publishing company own all of the characters. I am just writing fun stories. Please don't sue!!!

A/N: This chapter take place monday. Thanks for sticking with me thru the cliffhanger guys!! This is a long one and I hope you think its a good one!

Chapter 4

_1. Will the bond ever fade?_

_2. Can it ever be broken?_

_3. How do I know the difference between my emotions and yours?_

_4. Why did you use the knife instead of biting yourself or letting me bite you?_

_5. What is the range on the vampire GPS?_

_6. What happens if I get asked out on a date?_

_7. If vampires found out about our bond, would that put myself or both of us in danger?_

_8. What do we call each other? _

_9. Did you plan this all along from the beginning?_

In my black order book I had a separate piece of paper that I used throughout my shift in between taking orders to write down questions that I did not feel that Pam had answered or that I did not ask. The last question I wrote came to me right after Jason came in and sat down at the bar after he had gotten off of work.

"Hey Sis, can I please get a bottle of Bud?" He still didn't look at me in the eyes and he always used his best manners around me. He knew that I was still looking for every chance I got to blow up at him telling him what an inconsiderate bastard he'd become. Truth be told the idea of telling him off sounded mighty fine at the moment and bad manners would be a perfect excuse.

"Yeah, I'll be right back with that. Are you hungry?" I asked cold enough for Jason to know I was ticked off but nice enough that the other people in the bar wouldn't ask questions.

"Nah, some of Crystal's family are coming to the house tonight and they ordered pizza for everyone, I don't wanna go but I don't want that many Norris's in my house when I'm not there." That was the longest sentence Jason has spoken to me in 3 months.

"Okay." That was the average length of my responses.

I took the order from a family in the corner of the restaurant before getting Jason's beer. He could wait. Some people call this pettiness. I call it "Don't make your sister break her friends hand or else you'll get bad service"

The bar was somewhat busy for a Monday. It was almost time for me to get off and I only had 3 more tables plus Jason before I could go home.

"Got any plans tonight Sookie?" Sam asked why pouring Jason's Bud. He had come in at 3 today because he had to meet with some guy about getting a part on a new freezer.

_My kind of vampire husband is coming over to have a much-needed discussion and that may or may not end with the most amazing sex of my life._

"Not really, I just have some housework I need to take care of and then I'll probably end up reading or watching TV. Amelia and Octavia are still out of town so it's been nice to have the place back to myself." If I told Sam that Eric was coming over than he would have just asked too many questions and I had enough of my own.

"I bet. They seem like their pretty good roommates. You never complain about them. But it is your house." He said handing me Jason's beer.

At 5:30 I finished with my last table. Jason left me a five-dollar tip for a $2.75 beer and told me to have a goodnight before he left to go to his houseful of werepanthers. I could feel him wanting to apologize or hug me or something but he just gave me a little smile and head nod before walking out.

I finished up all other duties before heading to Sam's office to get my coat and bag. "You know Sookie, it's been nice to see you without you being put through all the vampire drama that you're normally a part of." Sam said standing in the doorway.

"Things have calmed down quite a bit since Felipe gained control of Louisiana. There really hasn't been that much drama that I know of so they haven't needed me. I'm sure not complaining!" I said smiling. According to Pam there could have been just as much if not more vampire drama and Eric was just not telling me about it because he thought it would be a bad idea to bring me in. Like I said to Sam, I am not complaining. The less the chance of me helping the vampires, the less the chance of me being beat up, shot at, staked or any of the other awful things that have happened to me in the past few years as a result of my generosities.

"That's good to hear. I can tell you've been a lot more relaxed lately. Like we got the old Sookie back." Sam said smiling.

"I don't know if I want the old Sookie back Sam, the old Sookie was so naïve, I didn't know anything about the world other than I was different and I had no idea why. I still don't know why I am different but I now know that there are a lot of other different people out there too. You included. Do you really want to go back to the days before I knew about you?" I was standing in front of him.

"No, I hated those days when I felt I wasn't truthful with you. I always wanted to tell you, I was just too scared you would reject me. Being a shapeshifter isn't something you can just tell anybody."

"Being a telepath isn't something to tell everyone either, but I told you." I have always thought of Sam as one of my best friends. He is one of the few people in my life that I've trusted and known he would never use anything against me.

"I know that." He walked up to me with open arms to go in for a hug. I went into his arms and looped my arms around him. "You're a good woman Sook. You always have been." He said over my shoulder while hugging me. I started to pull back to end the hug when he turned his head and went in for a kiss on the lips. I was so surprised I held the kiss for just a second before pushing him forward and taking a step back.

"Sam you gotta stop doing that! Why can't you ever kiss me when it's the right time!" The second sentence was meant to be rhetorical (Thank you word of the day calendar.) but Sam's eyes caught on to something.

"Right time? You said you didn't have plans tonight, and you're for the most part out of the vampire shit. How is this not the right time to kiss you?" Sam said with a shot of pain.

"Sam everything is so confusing right now, Eric and I uh..."I shut my eyes trying to gather my thoughts. "Eric and I...we have a lot things we need to talk about, and he is going to be coming by the house tonight so we can." I didn't risk a look from Sam's face. "I don't know what is going on between us, and like you said 'I've been out of the loop' for awhile so this is the first chance we've had to talk."

All hope it seemed like vanished from Sam's face when he looked down at the ground to his side slightly nodding. "Fucking vampires." He muttered just under his breath. "You gotta get out of this Sookie." Sam was gaining momentum and some anger. "There's no future for you with Eric or any of the vampires! Can't you see that? You are only going to live what, a hundred years if your lucky, do you really expect to keep working for them and doing their bidding when your in a wheelchair with white hair and wrinkles and all of them being the same as they are today?" He was looking at my face now and as serious as I've ever seen him.

"I don't have white hair and wrinkles now. They treat me well. I have protection from them." I was trying so hard to keep my cool. I have to be back to work with Sam in less than 24 hours and I hate fighting with him. I was both defending vampires and my connection to them. "I've chosen to help them, and part of the reason why Eric is coming by tonight is to set out a guideline for how and when I help them."

Sam seemed to ease up a bit. He still looked angry but he hearing that I was going to set up better terms of my services lightened his anger. "Good." He said matter of fact. "Good. Tell him not to drag you into shit that doesn't concern you. Tell him that you're too good for that. You tell Eric that he should take more care in picking out what you should be brought in to. You gotta be high enough up on the vampire totem pole by now that you don't need to be brought into stuff that would put you in danger. Tell him if he doesn't do that he'll have to deal with me."

Imagining a fight between Eric and Sam over me was terrible. If Sam could shift into something with enough strength to take Eric on, he might have a chance, but then I've seen up close and personal what Eric is capable of doing when the lust of battle and violence comes along. Trying to push aside the horrible thought of 2 of the closest people in my life killing one another in defense of me, I realized that everything that Sam wanted and was being so tough in wanting Eric to do, Eric either already has done or is part of our bond. I really had no idea how high up I was on the vampire totem pole of security. I have been able to live my life as normally as possible with few interruptions so I suppose somewhat high.

"That's part of what we are discussing tonight Sam. See no need to worry." I smiled and put my hand on his arm. "I know how to take care of myself."

"I always worry about you Sookie. You… Your one of my best friends, you know that. I'm always gonna be here for you. Remember that Sook. Now you go on home so you can straighten all this mess out. Let me know tomorrow what you and Eric laid out." He put his hand on top of mine and gave it a light pat. He gave me a smile and walked with me back out to the bar.

_10. How high up am I on the Vampire totem pole? Now and before._

_11. Don't kill Sam._

11 wasn't a question but a demand. Eric has never threatened to hurt Sam, but I know if he ever got the chance he would. I would never forgive Eric if he ever hurt Sam and he needs to know that.

Pulling into my driveway I saw Bill sitting on my front porch.

_2 days ago I found out the blood bond is a VERY big deal. Yesterday someone tried to set me up on a blind date. Tonight one of my best friends and boss kissed me in our annual game of badly timed kisses, and now my ex-boyfriend is waiting at my house when I get off work. Ugh.. Yippee for me._

"Hey Bill, What are you doing here?" Trying to sound not too excited about him waiting for me.

"Eric told me to leave tonight." He did not sound pleased.

"Leave where? For how long? Why?"

"He called me last night and told be to be out of Bon Temps by 6:30. He was coming here and did not want any interruptions. He told me to find another place to spend the day tomorrow. " I knew Bill too well that I knew he was quite upset. His voice never fluctuated tone. "Please remember how much I care for you. I will always be there to protect you…and love you." He softened his voice for the last sentence and looked at with his deep dark eyes.

"Bill I told you, you need to stop coming up to me all the time saying things like that. It's not automatically gonna turn everything around. I care for you a lot too, and I really do appreciate that you would do anything for me, but if you think that what your doing is going to send running back to you, its not." I was trying to not yell but I was sick of this. Bill was my first lover and is still my next-door neighbor, well across the cemetery neighbor but still the closest one.

"I am sorry to upset you Sookie, that was not my intention. I will leave you in peace. I will see you at Merlotte's when I return." He looked at my eyes and for a split second gave a look like I just punched him in the gut then disappeared into the woods.

_I wish I could end a conversation like that._

So Eric arranged so Bill could not spontaneously appear to distract us from our talk. Hell I probably would have too. Bill had a tendency to appear at times like that, and if he saw Eric's car or caught a whiff of his scent I know all too well that he would have knocked on my door with some dumb excuse just to interrupt.

I raced through the house dusting off every corner and picking up anything that was out of place. I have never been like this before when I was about to see Eric. I changed into just a simple pair of jeans and a nice white long sleeved shirt with a light blue zip jacket. I didn't have enough time to dress any nicer, and I actually did want to _talk_ with Eric and if wore anything more revealing, talking might not happen right away.

At 6:50 I got a knot in my throat and I became so tense that the fists I made almost cut my palms with my fingernails. I looked all around my house thinking something was out of place, was it too messy? Had I put everything away? _Oh God where are we going to talk? Are we going to sit on the couch? Out on the porch? In the kitchen at the table? _ I was in a state of absolute panic all of a sudden and I had no idea why. I was somewhat excited for most of today about seeing Eric tonight I was only a little nervous, why was I dreading it so much now?

_Was Eric close? Was I feeling his anxiety? When does Eric the great Viking vampire get anxious? Or was this my own nervousness mixed in with Eric?_

Then came the knock at the door and I jumped in place.

I shut my eyes and took a deep breath before I turned the knob.

"_This is it." _My eyes went wide and I got a sudden shock of panic. That was not my thought. I was thinking about what kind of greeting we should do, a handshake? A hug? A kiss on the cheek? I froze halfway turning the doorknob. Eric's mind had projected those three words so clearly I could have sworn it was a human who was an exceptional broadcaster, but I knew it was Eric. I could feel him through the bond, and a moment later I could sense his brain's signature vampire void.

"Sookie, what's the matter?! Open the door right now!" He called. No doubt he could feel my sudden panic. I don't think a 2-inch thick door would shield the emotions being picked up by each other. I could now sense his own little bit of panic of wondering what startled me so much.

I opened the door immediately and took all six and a half feet of Eric. He looked amazing. His long hair was pulled back into a low ponytail and he had on a pair nice faded jeans with black dress shoes. He had a black and blue button down long sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up half way to show off his forearm muscles. He was breathtaking. I could tell that he wanted to dress up a little bit more than usual but like me, I think he wanted to actually get to business about discussing everything before things got out of hand.

"Everything's okay. I just got kind of nervous for a second. Eric, are you okay? I think I could feel some anxiety as you were getting closer." I wasn't about to tell him the truth. I always wondered if he could feel my panic in Rhodes at Sophie-Anne's trial when I read one of Arkansas's vampires mind. After my initial shock of seeing I could do it, Eric came and stood by my side soothing me. Could I be showing the same panic as then? I shrugged it off then as a fluke since I had Eric's blood soon before and I told myself my ability was just amplified because of it. Today I don't know why I would pick up on a thought.

"Me nervous? My lover, do you really think that's possible?" He said smiling walking in through the threshold.

"Yes." I figured tonight would be a night for honesty. I was only going to be dishonest about the ability to pick up on stray vampire thoughts here and there for my own personal safety, but everything else I was going to lay out on the table. No better time than the present.

"Hmm…Like I've said before I guess I cant get anything past you anymore." He looked a little upset that he couldn't hide that particular emotion. I suppose anxiety would be one of the emotions that vampires feel as a great weakness and want to hide.

"What like thinking you could send Bill away for the night and I wouldn't find out?"

"I had good reason for that. You know as well as I do that he would have just gotten in the way. Look, he came to tell you that I told him to leave thinking that would change your opinion of me" Eric said matter of factly. Thinking like that, the only thing it did was make me think that Bill was nothing but a tattle-tail.

"Yeah you're right. Do you want to sit down on the couch?" I motioned over to the living room and we both sat down right next to each other in the middle of the couch as casually as could be. It was if a giant magnet were in each of us and when we were in the same room we were pulled by it and had to sit next to each other. Usually when you don't see someone for a long while you don't sit next to each other to the point of touching but we did and it felt totally normal.

"Say it again."

"Say what?"

"Say I was right." Eric probably had one of the biggest smiles I've ever seen him get.

"Oh Great Eric Northman, you were right in sending Bill away so we can talk about our issues in private without distraction." I said with the most sarcasm I could muster.

"You keep talking like that and we won't be able to talk. That kind of talk would lead to things that would most defiantly have to be private." He put his arm around me and leaned into me. "I was hoping to save that time for later." He breathed into my ear.

"Okay, I'm going to get some tea, do you want a bottle of blood?" I jumped up quickly and stood in front of him. We were going to have this talk damnit. You could already cut the lust in the air with a knife and he had been in the house less than 10 minutes.

"Please."

Pulling myself together going into the kitchen I realized this was going to be much harder than I thought. What happens if I pick up on another thought? Would he sense my panic again? How are we going to be able to keep our hands off each other long enough to talk about our situation? As the blood was heating in the microwave Eric came into the kitchen.

"I hope Pam able to answer some of the questions you had about the magazine article." I guess Eric was on the same page I was about getting down to business.

"Yeah, she did… there's only a few things that I'm still confused about." I sat his bottle on the table and took a seat. The kitchen has always the best place for me to have in depth conversations. As a kid Gran, Jason and I would always come to the kitchen table to discuss any problems that we ever had. Eric sat down adjacent to me.

"Please ask me whatever you were still unsure about." He looked like he was trying to keep his mind on track and force down any other feelings that he may have been having. I reached into my purse and grabbed the paper that I had written unanswered questions throughout the day on. I was about to ask the first one when Eric said "May I?" I handed the paper to him. There was no point in keeping it a secret. He scanned the paper.

"No and Yes to the first two." He said. _Well that was easy. Maybe this won't be too bad. _"You will learn over time how to decipher between my and your emotions. We can practice if you want to hurry the process. Once you can see the difference its quite easy to see between the two."

He was just going down my list of questions like he was at a press conference.

"I used the knife because it would be less painful on my part when I gave you my blood. The knife does have meaning yes, and I had been planning on telling you everything when we were to have our talk. The magazine beat me to it unfortunately."

"But you didn't recover your memories until after Rhodes. You knew the knife meant something then. Were you ever going to tell me?" I got a little annoyed. Did he think he could keep something like that from me?

"Yes I was going to tell you eventually. I just… I did not know of how…special our time together had been." He was picking his words carefully and talking slowly to where his accent was coming out a little. "I did not know how happy we had been. "

"Just stick to the list for now… we'll talk about what happened here after." If we stuck to the list it would be and easier flow of conversation I figured. He looked back down at the paper.

"As of right now with the bond GPS as you say, you will be able to sense my presence, I would say from about a half mile. I can sense you much further because I am a vampire, and my age has helped out as well. I will always be able to find you if you are ever in need. With emotions there is no real range, we will always be in tuned with each other's state even if we are not aware of it. If you concentrate you should be able to sense me in Shreveport. It would not be strong but it is there."

I would have to try that one day. He widened his eyes at the next question and I remembered what was next.

"Who wants to take you out on a date?" he asked.

"Well if you must know, I was approached by my pastor yesterday about going out with his nephew next week."

"What did you say?" He looked serious, I almost thought about telling him I said yes as a joke, but that would just be mean.

"I said no. The pastor had…ugly thoughts in his head and I didn't want to be a part of that."

"Good." He looked relieved. "You dated the tiger while we were bonded. You know I have no control over your actions even though sometimes I wish I did. I hated the thought of him with you, but I had no power to stop you. I hoped that one day you would come to me, but if you were to choose another I can not stop you."

That was not what I was expecting. I was expecting a big long explanation of YOU ARE MINE and how much I hated that term and what goes with it, but Eric didn't do that surprisingly and went on to the next question.

"We being bonded puts us in no more danger than we were before. As Pam told you last night, you have a little more protection because of it. You are very valuable Sookie, in more ways than you know. You have ties to almost all of the supernatural communities. Many people would like to get close to you for good and bad reasons. I will try to stop the bad in every way that I can. I like being tied to you because I can protect you. And I like being tied to you because of you." He said that so sweet it almost made me cry. Eric being sweet was not something that you see very often. I had a feeling that most who did see it didn't live too long afterward.

"To answer the next question if the bond were made public we would call each other 'bonded' to others. That is the tem that we use. If you are not ready for that to be common knowledge then we do not call each other anything and people will assume that we are tied from being former lovers at one point. The magazine confused you with all the talk of marriage. It is not so black and white if there is no ceremony involved. If though, one day you decided you want it to be known than you must know that people will use the term husband and wife if they do not know any better. I don't want it to be a shock to you if you ever hear that."

That was the first time marriage was brought up.

"How do you feel about that? What do you want to call me?" I asked. I really did want to know what he wanted to call me.

"I call you whatever comes to mind." He stated. "You are very dear to me Sookie. I hope one day you can see how much you are to me. You have changed me in many. many ways. The time that I was here and had no idea what happened between us was the strangest time of my life. To not know how much you meant to me. To not know how much I meant to you…"

"Hey, come on, back to the list for now. We'll talk about lost memories later." I knew if we talked about it now it would lead us in another direction. I knew that I would cry. I was doing so well holding myself together so far; I didn't want to stop now.

"Alright, no I wasn't planning on the bond from the beginning. You are very high on the totem pole, you always have been, and I will not kill Sam if you do not want me to." He said quickly with a smile finishing the last questions on my list. He set the paper back on the table and took my hands in his own. "Lover, do you realize that it had been centuries since I have felt the feelings you have brought back into my life?"

Eric always got what he wanted and right now he wanted to talk about last New Years.

"I told you that you were happy when you were here, I told you everything that happened." _Granted it was blackmailed out of me._

"Hearing the words and remembering emotions are two totally different things. I can tell you that you at one point liked a certain food, but you would not understand how much you liked it if you couldn't remember the taste would you?"

"I guess not."

"That's how it was for me, I was being told something like it was a story in a book. I had no memories what had happened but knew that it had happened to me. It was very frustrating."

"Yeah, you were pretty much annoying everyone you met." I chuckled.

"And annoying myself on top of it. I was trying to force the memories so hard and when they would not come I would get angry. Then the night of the takeover happened and I remembered everything. That is why I walked to your room. They came flooding back to me all at once I did not know how to correctly process it." He stood up from the table. "Come." He took my hand and we walked toward the living room closet where I once had Jason's shotgun. Home to the first clue to his memories coming back.

"Remember when I handed you the gun from here? That was the first old memory I got back that night. I went to the closet for the gun like it was second nature and once I had the gun in my hand the memory of you shooting the shifter came back with such force. I remembered how scared you were, and the pain of the bullet that went in my chest. I remembered the desire to protect you at all costs because I…cared for you so much." He ran his hand down the side of my face. "I still care for you."

This was about the point when my knees buckled beneath me, but Eric put his arm around my waist in time to hold me close to him and then put his lips on mine. The Earth as I knew it was still spinning but in that moment everything else stopped except Eric and I.

He pushed me up against the wall while kissing me for all its worth. He lifted me up by my bottom and I wrapped my legs around him while he pinned me against the hall wall rhythmically pushing his body into mine "I have wanted this moment for so long Lover." He breathed out in between many kisses down my cheek, neck and on my shoulder. "I have too." I said in between the moans and small gasps of pleasure.

He supported me with one arm while caressing my back with the other as he pulled away from the wall. Still wrapped around him but perfectly stable I pulled my shirt over my head in between kisses. We fumbled and made our way to the bed where we crash-landed completely wrapped up in each other.

He kissed the heavenly trail of going from my chin down to my stomach with taking time at my breasts. I managed to pull his shirt off at one point and I was tracing the outline of muscles on his shoulders. He gently unzipped my jeans pulling them off as he was kissing just below my belly button.

_Oh my God I forgot how good Eric was at oral sex! _ I screamed in my head as he was refreshing my memory. At the moment before my climax he turned his head and bit my thigh. My orgasm was one for the record books that's for sure. I looked at him as he was coming up to my face for a kiss. "You are the most amazing woman I have ever met." He entered me after that and I gasped at the pleasure. "Oh Eric" I moaned over and over as I could feel him inside and out.

I don't know if it was the bond or just that we had everything out in the open between us but with every thrust I could feel more and more connected and complete. _This is how it should feel every time._ I thought to myself. I haven't had that much sex as a normal girl my age has had but this was unlike any previous experience, even from before with Eric. It felt like we were dancing and hitting every step perfectly. Never stepping on any toes or missing any ques. It was an A++ if I had a grade book.

When he came inside of me he let out a massive pleasure filled grunt and collapsed on top of me. I have no idea for how long but we stayed very still like absorbing the moment for all its worth until he rolled over and I positioned myself on my side in the crook of his arm. I was running my hand up and down his chest and he was absently playing with me hair. We were both deep in thought of what just happened, what has happened in the past and what will happen in the future.

"Why did you not tell me how many times I offered to take you to my side, to be with you always?" He asked.

"I told you what you said to me, I told you that you said you would give up everything for me."

"You told me of what happened in the car in front of Pam's house and you didn't tell me then that you never gave me an answer. You never told me of the other many times I told you how much I wanted you and wanted to keep what we had."

"It wasn't the real you Eric and I knew that. I was thinking that once everything went back to normal that you would think that you were an idiot for ever thinking those things in the first place."

"You called yourself the idiot when I offered myself to you in the car before you walked away. I thought at the time that you did not want me and that I had failed you in some way. I have full memories now and I sill feel the same way now as I did then."

I didn't know what to say. I was still in the after sex dreamy state and hearing him say that to me made tears well up in my eyes. I couldn't look at him so I kept my head to his chest and said "I thought I was an idiot, I didn't know then what to think, I was still freshly heartbroken from Bill and I couldn't take another heart break." That was the truth. I have thought in the past if Eric woke up the day after the war back to normal with memories of our time together intact, if he had regretted saying all those things to me and told me that he didn't want to be with me it would have hurt so much.

He moved so we were both lying on our sides looking at each other in the face. "My lover, I would never break your heart. I could not imagine causing you pain like that. I would not be able to stand myself if I ever hurt you."

"You better not. You would be able to feel my pain too now."

"I have been able to feel your pain for quite sometime now, even before Rhodes. The night in New Orleans in the hospital with Bill, I felt how much he hurt you. I hated being the one to tell you but I felt as though I had to."

"I hate that you did too, but I'm thankful that you did. I couldn't imagine still being in the dark about everything."

"You will never worry about me not being honest with you. I always have been and always will be." He kissed me on the forehead.

"I know that, and I'm grateful to you for it." I moved to kiss him on the lips.

"How grateful?" He said grinning the very Eric like smile pulling myself toward him so that I could feel his excitement.

I showed him 3 more times how grateful I was before I was about to fall asleep. Eric told me that he was going over to Bill's house for the day. He fully remembered that the hidey-hole in my guest room was Bill's size and how uncomfortable it was for him. I guess Bill had made either many different sized hidey-holes or some sort of light tight rooms at his house and there was one that was more suited to Eric's proportions. Probably another reason Eric had to send Bill packing for the night.

"I will return to you tomorrow when I rise before I have to go back to Shreveport. Will you be here?"

"I work the lunch shift again so I should be home sometime before 6." I said on the verge of sleep still wrapped in Eric's arms.

"I will either meet you at the bar or here at your house before I leave." He kissed me passionately one more time before I fell into a wonderful sleep in his arms. I was so happy he waited until I was asleep before leaving.

Please Review!! Further chapters to come!!! Not sure how many more, this is so much fun I don't want to stop!!!


	5. Chapter 5

Charlaine Harris owns the characters I write with. Please don't sue!!

Thank you guys so much for all your great reviews! I hope everyone had a great new year!

Chapter 5

It had been just over a year since I last slept with a vampire. I have only technically slept with two but sans memory Eric I felt was different than the Eric from last night. I forgot what a strange sensation it was to wake up in bed completely alone after a full night of mind-blowing sex. In movies and books you always hear about waking up in your lovers arms cuddling with horrible morning breath kisses but when your lover is a vampire you get the whole bed to yourself and wake up alone. It's a stranger sensation when you think about how your vampire lover is usually either dead in the dirt out in your yard or under the floor somewhere in your house. In my case, over at my vampire-ex-boyfriend who was kicked out's house right next-door

_Oh my God I had sex with Eric again._

I panicked for a moment at the thought of what this will all mean but then had the biggest smile of my life and giggled to myself remembering last night. The sex was amazing. I can't say that I was surprised that it happened. The sexual tension between Eric and I had been ever present since I told him that we had sex when he had amnesia from the witch's curse. Well, it's been there since the first time we met, but it became a lot more apparent since the night I told him everything. Since we swapped blood the last time we could barely keep our hands to ourselves in each other's presence. Now my once upon a time lover was my once again lover, but now he was something more that that. Now he was my so-called bonded husband. _Ha! I guess we consummated the marriage. _I said to myself, but I wasn't really laughing.

I was thinking about the talk I had at Merlotte's with Sam yesterday after he kissed me. _"There's no future for you with Eric or any of the vampires! Can't you see that? You are only going to live what, a hundred years if you're lucky…"_ People said the same things to me when I started dating Bill what felt like a million years ago, but back then I was new to dating and relationships and I was just enjoying myself. Being around somebody that I couldn't 'hear' was so nice and exciting I didn't care what other people thought. A lot has changed since then in regards to my relationship with Bill and all the other men in my life, but as of a few months ago I was permanently bonded with Eric. The only way to break the bond was for one of us to die and Eric has told me plenty of times that if there were ever a choice, he would choose himself. We didn't talk about the future last night other than Eric telling me that he would always be there for me in every way. I knew he meant it and I know he will keep his word.

So now came up the topic of my ultimate mortality. As I got into the hot shower I knew that now I really need to take the time to question what kind of future I would have if Eric and I became a couple. This thought process was making my head hurt because Eric and I has such a strange tale of how we came to the point where we were today. All of my memories of how Eric acted at the thought of myself being "his" were involving Eric having no idea who he was. If he nearly killed a Were at Merlotte's because she insulted me, how was he going to act as his full memory self? Eric has always been possessive of me, but who really knew how far his possessiveness went. And what about logistics? Another word from the word-of-the-day calendar, thank you very much. He is in Shreveport at Fangtasia nearly every waking moment in his life (or death). I didn't want to hang out in a vampire bar every night hearing every fangbanger talk about how much they want to screw a vampire, Eric in particular or have one bite them. What would he do about Bill and Sam? Was he going to make Bill move away from Bon Temps so he wouldn't ever interrupt us? I didn't want that guilt on my mind. And Sam! Sam kissed me yesterday! Eric promised to not kill Sam last night when he glossed over that last question. I was so thankful that he did that and then didn't ask me later why he would want to kill Sam and just went into another topic. I wonder if last night would have gone the same way if he hadn't. Sam is the one who kissed me and I broke it off almost immediately. If Eric found out he would have no ground to stand on because it happened before he came over.

As I was getting dressed I thought about how Eric bit my inner thigh and one side of my breast when we made love last night so I didn't have to worry about hiding bite marks at work. That was a relief and I remembered last year Eric never bit me in a public place. Bill tended to bite my neck so I would always have to get creative with necklaces and different types of collars.

When I went in my kitchen to make some coffee before I left for work, I noticed a folded note left on the kitchen counter set up against my coffeepot.

_You are an amazing woman._

_-E_

I don't know how he does it but Eric has always had the ability since I first met him to just utterly make my heart melt if he put his mind to it. He took the time last night before he left to get my coffeepot ready for me. All I needed to do was press the button to get it started. It was something so small but so heartwarming at the same time. He has always done those sorts of things for me that may seem strange or insignificant to some but to me they were exactly what I wanted or needed. That one sentence in his note tells me more than a dozen roses would and he knows that. _Maybe being his bonded isn't such a bad thing._

After getting my coffee poured in my to-go cup I kissed Eric's note and put it in my bedroom then left for work. Amelia should be coming home today sometime while I was at there. I was happy she was coming back home, I've gotten used to her being my roommate and my house gets awfully lonely at night by myself. I wasn't sure if I should fill in Amelia completely on the events of my weekend. I guess I'll just see how it goes.

"G'morning Sookie." Sam said looking up from his desk when I walked into his office just a little early to my 10:30am shift.

"Morning Sam, How are ya?"

"I'm alright, I'm just going over payroll, so how did things go with Eric last night."

I knew he would ask about it and I prepped myself on the drive to work on what I would say when he did.

"It was actually pretty good, Eric is going to be taking an extra effort into when and who wants to contact me. He really does care and wants to keep me safe." I figured that was ambiguous enough and didn't out and out say 'We had sex.'

Sam furrowed his brows trying to think about what could happened between us, but decided against asking any more details. He looked off to the side for a second then turned to me; "Sookie… Listen, I'm sorry about—"

"Sam it's okay I promise." I cut him off before he could finish. "Maybe the next time you try to kiss me you should ask me first." I gave him a small smile that was kind but also showed that I was serious. I couldn't imagine kissing Sam again after the night I had with Eric but I didn't want to hurt his feelings and tell him so.

"I'll try to keep that in mind." He looked back down at his work and I took the opportunity to walk out and start my shift.

My day went by surprisingly fast. Usually when I was looking forward to getting off of work the day tended to drag and last forever, but everyone was polite and everything was pretty easy-going. Even Andy Bellefleur was in a good mood. I guess things had been going well in newlywed-land with his new bride. He was only thinking of getting home to her and wrapping his arms around her. It was a sweet side of the detective's mind that I didn't see too often. Usually around me he would think mean thoughts about my brother or the vampires and sometimes myself but he tonight he didn't and he even left me a little more than 20% for a tip.

"He must be in a good mood." Terry said from behind the bar seeing the tip money Andy left me.

"Maybe he's making up for all the times he never left me one." There were plenty of those to make up for.

"Yeah maybe. Karma's a bitch ya know." Terry said gruffly.

"That's what I've heard." I have definitely had my fair share of Karma, good and bad. And quite a few people I know have been on the bad side of it.

I grabbed my coat and purse from Sam's office and said short goodbyes to everyone before heading out the door. I made my goodbye to Sam extra short. I didn't want to make the situation any more uncomfortable than necessary. I like Sam a lot as a person and a boss, but right now anything more than that would be not so good and extremely complicated. For him and for me.

There was just a little sunlight out when I was on my way home. Eric, because of his age was probably stirring out of his daytime slumber but most likely not up yet. He said he was staying at Bill's but I didn't see his car when I drove past his driveway on my way to my own. _Maybe he flew?_

I did see Amelia's car when I pulled up and when she heard my car door she greeted me at the front porch with a hug.

"Oh I missed you Sookie! This weekend was rough!"

"I missed you too, I'm glad you're home. How was everything?"

"Well my dad spent the entire weekend treating me like some kind of trophy to show off to the Howard's. They own a few commercial buildings down there even though they don't live in New Orleans and they need them to be renovated and my dad wants the business so he spent the entire time wining and dining them. It was way too boring for me. And I missed Tray. Have you seen him?" When you get Amelia talking, it takes a lot to slow her down.

"Yeah he came into the bar yesterday for lunch. Didn't say much though, we were pretty busy." She and Tray were getting pretty serious and I didn't need to be telepathic to tell.

"Well I hope he missed me too." She said cheerfully. We sat down at the couch. "So how was your weekend? Were you able to get a hold of Pam on Saturday?"

Saturday seemed so long ago.

"Yeah, she just wanted to ask me a few questions about something at the bar, no biggie. Um… Eric will be here soon." I didn't want to tell her everything just then, it would take awhile and Eric would be here any minute. He was right. Bill's house was less than a half-mile from mine and just a few minutes before I got a sudden spark of happiness and an acute awareness of his presence. I noticed the sun was fully set so he would be making his way over shortly.

"Oh really now." Amelia said wagging her eyebrows. "I take it you two 'discussed' your issues." She said making air quotes around discussed. Well I'll be damned if Amelia and Pam didn't have more in common than I thought. I let out a small chuckle about to answer when Eric did it for me.

"You could say that. Good evening Sookie." He stood behind the couch behind me placing his hands on my shoulders and kissing the top of my head. I reached up to take one of his hands. "Hello Amelia. Make any new feline companions while you were away?" He said jokingly

"Ha ha…very funny. And no I didn't. I won't be trying anything like that for a long, long time." She smiled at me and gave an annoyed look towards Eric. "Well I'm assuming that you two want to talk some more and I want to go see Tray. I don't know if I'll be back tonight so don't wait up!" She was so excited about seeing him she didn't care about Eric's teasing jab anymore.

Eric waited until he heard Amelia's car reach the end of the driveway before pouncing on top of me on the couch.

"I can not believe you are all mine again Sookie, I haven't much time before I need to go back to Shreveport, and I don't want to waste any of it." He said peeling his clothes and mine off at the same time. His lips found mine and his hands found and explored every inch of my body. "I don't want you to waste any either" I said back between kisses. There were a few things that I did want to talk to Eric about but being this close to him, touching his skin, smelling his scent, feeling his desire for me through the bond the only thing that I wanted was Eric inside of me. To feel the same amazing closeness that we felt last night. To feel as though the whole world disappeared.

He started out slow taking time to caress my body and get in plenty of kissing on my neck, chest and stomach. Drawing blood from my nipple like he did in the past I felt his fingers massage me from the inside and I let out almost like a whimper of desire. He replaced his fingers with himself and I was suddenly riding the biggest wave of pleasure I've ever experienced. He shouted in another language and groaned when he came, he had somehow timed it perfectly to my own and we were wrapped in each other's bodies on the floor completely relaxed in front of the fireplace pulsating with contentment. Some how in the heat of the moment we migrated there from the couch. I don't know how long it all lasted but it was amazing. "I could get used to this," I said after catching my breath. "So could I." Eric said soft as a whisper almost as if he didn't want me to hear while running his hands down the curves on my side. I thought I felt a tinge of nervousness but it was gone before I could fully register it.

"Do you really need to leave soon?" I asked. He was lying behind me on his side holding me close. Think big spoon.

"I do. If you like you can come with me. It is always a pleasure having you at the bar. And maybe tonight I could have you there in more ways than one." He said nibbling on my ear.

"I don't know. I'm not sure I could stand hearing all those people's thoughts about wanting to have sex with you right after we have here."

"Those people just want me because I am a vampire. They don't care who I am or who any of us are. Just that we have fangs. Unfortunately they will always be a part of the bar. They are my biggest source of revenue. We can sit in a booth if you like for the extra privacy." He must have really wanted me to go. I thought for a moment of a reason not to and didn't come up with anything. I didn't have to work tomorrow and Amelia was most likely not coming home tonight so nothing was keeping me here, and truthfully I didn't want to be away from Eric. "Okay why not? I just need to change clothes, I don't think that my uniform would fit in very well there."

"Good, now that I have you here I do not want to be away from you." He kissed the back of my head the helped me sit up. We kissed for a little while longer almost going into another round of passion but I pulled away "You keep that up and we won't be going anywhere." I said standing up. "That was the plan." He said with a grin watching me go to my bedroom to change clothes.

I chose a pair of tight jeans with black dress boots to go with one of my favorite red sweaters. It was dressy enough to be eye pleasing but considered underdressed for what most other people would be wearing. Once I went to the kitchen to grab my purse and bag and turned off all the lights we were ready to go.

"Where is your car?" I asked remembering not seeing it at Bill's.

"I didn't come here in it, we will have to take yours so you can go home tomorrow." He said that to me making it perfectly clear that he was not happy about it.

"I like my car just fine even if you don't."

"At least it's a small step up from the old one. That thing was a monstrosity."

"Well I'm sorry Eric, not everyone has the ability to have a shiny red Corvette." I didn't want to bicker with him, but he always complains about my car and I was sick of it.

"If you want a new car, all you have to do is ask. I would be happy to help you."

"That's the thing though, I don't want you to help me because I don't want a new car. Why do I need one? Just to please you? This car works perfectly well for me so please just drop it." I wanted this conversation to be over.

"Fine."

"Fine." I can't believe we were having a 'Fine' standoff. Little did Eric know that I had an older brother who would find every way to tease and taunt me and these types of standoffs were a daily occurrence for a few years. I could play this game, and I can play it well.

Eric could too. I found out. We ended up not talking for the entire drive. After about 20 minutes and a few side-glances at each other I couldn't help but stick my tongue out at him and that made him let out a small chuckle causing me to break a smile but neither of us said a word.

Once we pulled into the back of Fangtasia Eric broke the silence. " I have some work to do in my office at first so you can help yourself to the bar. I need to make some phone calls and you will be too distracting alone in my office behind closed doors. I will meet you out there once I am finished."

"Sounds like a plan." He came around the car to open my door and walk me inside. He kissed me lightly on the lips and said, "See you shortly." Before walking to his office and I walked out into the main area of the bar. I looked around scanning for familiar faces and when Pam and my eyes locked she appeared in front of me in seconds.

"So nice to see you here tonight Sookie. Is my master in his office?"

"Yeah, he said he was making phone calls, then he was going to meet me out here. I think I'll go to the bar and get a drink."

Pam nodded at me with a smile saying, "We'll talk later and catch up." and started her way to Eric's office.

I went to the bar and Felicia was acting as bartender tonight.

"What can I get for you tonight Sookie?" She was still weary of me. Every time I saw her I would have to promise her that I didn't want to kill her hoping that she believed me.

"A gin and tonic would be great Felicia, thanks." She poured my drink and handed it to me with a napkin still leery.

I sat at the bar and just people watched for a while. The humans who frequent Fangtasia on a whole were some pretty interesting people. Pathetic yes, but still interesting. I try to put up shields to block the thoughts from every angle but I can't keep them all away.

"_I want to fuck a vamp so bad…Scotty said it was amazing…I want to be bitten…where's the big hot blonde vamp who's always here, I want him to bite me…is it rude to buy a vampire a drink… she's here somewhere. Where is Dave at he was supposed to be here by now...Damn that chick is hot I wonder if she'd fuck a human… I want to be one so bad. Why wont they turn me…_

I almost forgot why I ever agreed to come here. Everywhere I looked the thoughts were all the same. The woman wanting to become a vampire was just downright sad. The man looking for his friend Dave and someone else was the only one around that didn't have every kind of sex at the front of their mind. After 10 minutes I was already ready to go home. It was hard to be in a bad mood because the thought of Eric in the other room waiting to come out and see me made me want to smile. I thought I would look back to see if the mans friends ever arrived, when I found them in the crowd they were both looking at me in the eyes, completely still.

"_Is that her? She looks like the girl in the picture but I can't tell for sure…Adam said he followed her car here…_" Dave was trying to look at me discretely and match me up to the picture of me that was given to him by Adam, who was the man that followed me here and had been inside the bar.

"_That's her alright…Where is Northman, I didn't think that he would be arriving with her… Its gonna be hard to get her out of here without anyone getting hurt if he's watching...I bet they're fucking…that's just wrong…The Lord will show her the way…"_

I was holding my fake smile and light eye contact with them until I heard "The Lord". In a place like this God doesn't come into thought processes much, other than praying to get bitten or have sex, not trying to spread The Word. My eyes widened and my mouth dropped. _Fellowship._ This cannot be good.

"_Oh shit! They said she could read minds but I thought that was bullshit. Well this isn't going to be as easy as I thought…"_

My head jerked when I saw Eric barrel through the crowd. I knew he could feel my panic immediately. The music stopped and everyone made room. As Eric came closer, Adam took the opportunity when I wasn't looking to get a hold of my arm and twist it to bring me pinned in front of him. Felicia tried to get me out of his reach but the long pure silver knife that Dave held in front of her and an identical one Adam currently had pressed hard into my neck stopped her.

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I know its another cliff hanger. I had too. Its just too much fun!

Please Review!!! I love hearing your thoughts!


	6. Chapter 6

Charlaine Harris owns the rights to the characters. I am just writing a story for fun. Please don't sue me!

I got this out quickly because I knew that cliff hanger was a mean one :)

Chapter 6

"Get back all of you! Let us through! Let us through!" Adam yelled into the crowd while Dave waved his giant silver knife at them. Adam pressed the blade of his knife so hard on the side of my neck I knew (from personal experience) I couldn't jerk or wiggle because I would slit my own throat. We were very slowly making our way to the front door. Adam and I were walking backwards away from Eric and the back of the bar while Dave and his knife were right behind us facing the other way making a path to the front.

Eric's blue eyes were blazing with fury. This was not good for the reason that I was getting all of that anger poured into me through the bond along with my own. "Get your fucking filthy hands off of me you piece of shit!" I roared. I _never_ swore but the thought of these men taking me away out of a bar at knifepoint pissed me off. "You will never get away with this, see all these folks here? They're going to rip your fucking head off for hurting me!" I kept eye contact with Eric because not only was he sending me anger, he was easing away my fear. Yes I was scared for my life, but under any other circumstance I would probably panic, and panic was not an option. Anger was a much better one.

"She is right you know. You both will not go unpunished for this." Eric said coolly with his fangs fully extended walking up to them ever so slowly. He looked scary to say the least. I looked around at the other vampires and they all had the same expression, eyes blazed in full attack mode.

"Shit Adam, don't look him in the eyes, don't look him in the eyes!" Dave was yelling across his shoulder. These men had to be absolute idiots for thinking that 2 silver knives could take on a bar full of vampires. I shut my eyes to see what kind of idiots I was dealing with.

"_Oh no, oh no, this isn't supposed to happen like this…we were just supposed to snatch her quick then take her to the warehouse…that's its…drop her off and get our money…Lord help me… I think they're going to kill me…I can't look in his eyes…I need to send a message to just let us go…"_

Uh oh.

Everything that happened next went by so fast but as it was happening it felt like it was going in total slow motion.

As I picked up on the thought of Adam sending a message i.e. doing something to me that would not be pleasant, I opened my eyes and looked for Eric right away. He saw the sudden panic on my face and made his way towards us. When Adam saw Eric coming fast he took the knife and cut the side of my throat. Not my jugular because he didn't want to kill me, but to the right of it. I cried out in pain and when I did Adam looked up at Eric's face and just like that, it was all over for him. Eric latched on to him and commanded, "Release her." to which Adam immediately did. "Go with Pam Sookie." Eric said to me. Pam came to my side, scooped me up in her arms like I was a puppy and whisked me into Eric's office laying me on his couch.

I was losing blood and fast. Pam got towels to press firmly on my neck. "You have no idea how hard it is to contain myself Sookie." She said inspecting my cut. "Funny Pam, the last time I was attacked in a bar bleeding on the ground, Eric said the same thing to me." I was starting to cry from the pain. The adrenaline rush was fading and searing pain from a deep 3 inch cut on my neck was kicking in. "I believe you will be alright Sookie, you need to calm down. We will take care of you." I knew Pam would. I tried calming myself but when I reached up my hand to touch my neck when I saw my bloody hands I just about lost it. I started sobbing.

"Sookie, it is really not that bad. He did not get your jugular or any tendons or muscles. It looks a lot worse than it is." She was rubbing my back with one hand trying to get me to calm down while keeping a hold of the towel on my neck with the other.

"Yeah but I think it feels a lot worse than it looks." I was starting to whine but I could care less. Some bozo nearly slashed my throat open in the middle of a vampire bar. I have every reason to whine if I wanted.

Eric came through the door and came to my side. He lifted the towel to see my wound. "Get a bottle of O positive." He said to Pam. She went out the door and in seconds appeared back at my side with the bottle in hand. Eric took the bottle and said "Thank you. She will recover. Finish up on the floor." Pam gave me a wink and went out the door without saying a word.

"Lover," Eric said kneeling next to me brushing my hair out of my face. "I will give you a choice but I assume it will be an easy one to make. This cut is not life threatening but it needs to be taken care of. We can either take you to a hospital where you can leave with a nasty scar on the side of your beautiful neck or you can drink this bottle to replenish the blood you lost and let me heal you and then we can leave."

"What happened to the men out there?" I knew the answer but I was thinking about if we did end up going to the hospital what kind of questions I would be asked.

"They have been taken care of. When Pam took you away it was all of us against 1 moron with a knife. One vampire got a silver burn getting it away from him but he will heal shortly. We will talk about this more later, you need to decide what you want to do now."

"If you heal me, what will that do to our blood bond?"

"You will not require that much blood so the differences will be marginal."

"Like how? I don't want it to be more crazy than it already is!"

"Sookie, it won't be, drink the TrueBlood, you're changing color." Eric was looking at me with concern.

My neck was really hurting and I just wanted to go home. I knew that I didn't want to go to a hospital, and I knew if I took Eric's blood there wouldn't be any scars. I hate the thought of taking more and what could happen to me, but I knew it was the best option. I took the bottle from his hand and started to drink. I was trying to remember what it tasted like when it was mixed with juice to make it go down easier, but it didn't help. After I downed a few big gulps Eric helped me sit up on the couch. "Sit in front of me." He moved him self so I was sitting between his legs with my back to his chest. I heard the all too familiar crunch sound and after his bleeding wrist appeared in front of me. I took his arm in my hands and began to suck at his wound. As I did that he started licking the blood on and around the cut on my neck to help close the cut. By the time I took the third long draw of blood his hand came around to explore my chest. I stopped there. He hadn't climaxed yet, but I imagine he was close. I reached up to feel my neck and could feel the skin healing itself under my fingertips. I turned to Eric and he went to kiss me. Kissing turned into touching and touching turned into the removal of clothes. It was what you call a quickie because it was fast and hard and on the couch. We didn't even take off all of our clothes, just the necessary ones. Eric had been so aroused by my drinking his blood that once we were having sex he came almost immediately after I did.

"Well then." I said after a few minutes pulling up my jeans. "I take it that's what you wanted to do to me before after I've taken your blood." I said jokingly as he was putting his boots back on. I felt completely healed and in a great mood from the sex. Raising his head with a toothy smile, "Yes, my lover, you could say that would have been preferred." "_That is if Compton and the tiger were not in the way." _

I smiled back at Eric. Differences would be marginal my ass. I had gotten a sentence yesterday from him, but I assumed it was just my nerves getting to me and Eric was feeling as little nervous as well so I had wanted to just write it off as another fluke. Keeping a straight face I went to double check his mind.

"_She is mine now and that is all that matters."_

Oh no, oh no, oh no. This is not good. I had to keep myself together. He would be able to sense if something upset me. I think he picked up a little something because he looked at me with a quizzical face then said "Are you feeling alright?" looking at my neck.

"Yeah I am. I feel better than before actually. I kind of want to go home now though. I think I'm going to drive back soon." It wasn't even midnight yet so I wasn't too worried about driving back to Bon Temps at night. Eric's blood had given me some energy so I didn't have to worry about falling asleep at the wheel.

"I will follow you then. Pam can finish the night here."

"Alright, but I want to leave soon."

Eric walked up to me and kissed my forehead. "Let me tell Pam I am leaving and we will go." He took my hand in his and it was like he was or had a giant antenna. Thoughts, images the whole kit and caboodle. I took back my hand and just looked at him. "Hurry back." I said trying so hard to look unaffected. When he shut the office door behind him, my body went out beneath me and I crumpled to the floor on my bottom. I buried my head in my hands and started crying thinking over and over _what am I going to do? _How is it that for months there were no complications, no drama, and no attacks on my life and then all of a sudden now in the course of a few days everything went to sooner as I was on the floor did Eric open the door and find me there.

"What is wrong Sookie, as soon as I shut the door your whole mood shifted." _What is wrong with her…is she upset with me…is she upset that the men who attacked her are dead…" _I looked up at Eric. They were all there. Every thought that went through my Viking's head was also going through mine.

Through my tear filled eyes I thought to myself '_I can't tell you' _before opening my mouth to try to say something explaining the situation.

"Tell me what? What are you keeping from me?" Eric asked. As soon as the last word left his mouth he knew the answer. His back stiffened and his eyes widened as he looked around the room, and then back to me. "Stay here." He told me forcefully. In a blink of the eye he was out of his office slamming the door behind him. _How did he hear me? Oh God he's going to have to kill me now. I knew it! I knew I should have just gone to the hospital. I would so love a nasty scar on my neck than to not have a neck at all. _

Eric opened up the door with as much force as he shut it. "Where are your things?" He asked with no inclination in his voice. I looked over to his desk where my purse was sitting. He immediately grabbed it and my coat on the chair. "Come." He said taking me arm. He was talking to me in short sentences or one word commands now. _Oh God he IS going to kill me. _

"No I'm not." He said looking at me and for a brief moment I saw what I could only assume to be shock in his eyes. He focused back on getting out of the bar.

He still had a hold of my arm as we were going out the back door. He leaded me over to his Corvette and opened up the passenger door for me to get in. He was in the driver seat with the key in the ignition by the time I shut the door. Vampire speed still freaks me out sometimes.

"What about my car?" I asked

"_I will have someone drop it off at your house tomorrow." _He thought to me without opening his mouth. I'm pretty sure he was double-checking the fact that I could 'hear ' him.

"Where are you taking me Eric?" I said out loud. I was putting up barriers in my mind similar to the ones that I did in Barry's presence to try to block him out of my mind. From the feeling I was getting from Eric, I was pretty sure he was trying to do the same thing.

"_I have an apartment building that I own. It is a safe place that we can go to." _ He thought to me again not taking his eyes off the road. He was doing a better job at shielding any other thoughts he was having, I only got a few broken words in English that didn't make any sense and the sentences he was thinking were in another language that I couldn't understand. I wasn't even sure if it was still spoken. The words were coming a mile a minute and not knowing the language was confusing me. The only thing I could think he was saying is of where he could dump my body.

"I told you Sookie, I am not going to hurt you. This discovery must be taken seriously and we have to come up with a plan on how to handle it." He looked at me when he said that. It was the first thing he said out loud since we got into the car. He was as serious as I've ever seen him, but he was right. This discovery changes everything.

"What language is that?"

"Old Norse. It is my native tongue. The language of my home."

Eric was speeding through the streets. I was sure we were going to be pulled over any minute. I was about to say something about his speed when he pulled into a parking garage under an apartment building.

"Is this where you live?" I asked.

"No, I own the building. There is a vacant apartment here that has a vampire safe room. I want us to stay here tonight." He took my hand this time, not my arm and led me inside. He was focusing on blocking his thoughts.

The huge building was maybe 5 stories high and it looked like an old warehouse. It looked like the buildings I've seen magazines where they take old factories and warehouses and convert them into expensive condos and apartments. We went to the elevator and took it to the 3rd floor. When the elevator doors opened there were 2 doors, one to the left and one to the right. Eric took a set of keys from his pocket and opened up the door on the left. The alarm started beeping and he went to the keypad to type in the pass-code.

The condo was amazing. I took the time to look around while Eric turned on the lights. It was completely empty with the exception of a couch in the middle of the room and bed in the far corner. It had beautiful hard wood floors and a very modern kitchen. The windows went from floor to ceiling looking out to downtown Shreveport. It looked like a studio so I didn't know where the vampire safe room could be.

"_It is behind the bookshelf on the wall over there. There is a button under one of the shelves that you push and it opens the door behind it." _Eric thought to me from across the room. I looked over at him. "Oh. That makes sense." I wasn't ready yet to have full telepathic conversations with him yet.

"_It seems that our last blood exchange has had some unexpected results for both of us Lover. We need to talk about what this means for the future and train ourselves on how to control it." _

"Unexpected? Unexpected? You told me that this last time wouldn't change anything! I trusted you Eric. I thought you were just going to heal my neck not completely change my life!" I was getting angry. My whole world as I knew it and now my gift not was suddenly not what it was when I woke up this morning. "I don't know what kind of training you want me to do but I have been living with this my whole life! I know that you haven't but I have. You already can block me a little and you now can speak another language in your head to block me out completely what more to do you want to do?"

"_Are you finished throwing a tantrum yet Dear One?" _ He was smiling at that thought and it made me want to hit him. He motioned for me to sit on the couch with him.

_No. I'm not, thank you very much._

"Do it again." He asked.

"Do what?" Now I was just getting confused.

"Speak to me in your mind like you did just then. Speak a full sentence."

_Okay…what is the purpose of this. You know you can hear me, and I can hear you._

"_Sookie, I've never been able to hear human thoughts. I do not know if it is just only you that I can hear or everyone. It is strange to me. I wonder if you can hear other vampires or just me." _He started thinking in his other language after directing that thought to me. He leaned over and put his arm around me. His touch soothed me to no end and my anger slowly drifted away.

"I don't know if I can hear other vampires. What do we do now?" I asked. I didn't want to tell him about the few times before where I could hear.

"Tomorrow we will go to Fangtasia and find out. We will practice at setting up mental barriers. We cannot tell anyone of this new discovery. The less people who know the better."

"I don't want to go back there Eric! I was almost kidnapped and killed there today!"

"I will not let you out of my sight. We are going to be taking extra precautions as to what humans will be admitted." "_No one will ever hurt you like that in front of me again." _

"I don't know, I just want this day to be over. I keep thinking about how I almost died tonight, I don't know what the Fellowship would want with me after all this time. It doesn't make any sense."

Eric turned to me and cupped my face in his hands. "You are my bonded. I would have never let them take you away from me. If I were out on the floor when it started they would not have had the chance to grab you and hurt you. Rest assured Love, an episode like tonight will never happen again." He leaned in and kissed me on my mouth. I kissed him back and then lied on the couch with my head in his lap. He gently stroked my hair. "Get some rest. We will find everything out tomorrow."

I don't know if it was all of the action that I had experienced today or if Eric was calming me through the bond but I completely relaxed with him stroking my hair lying there and drifted into sleep. The last thought I remember having was _He called me Love instead of Lover._

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Thank you all again for the great reviews!!!


	7. Chapter 7

Charlaine Harris owns the rights to the characters in this story. I am just writing for fun. Please don't sue me!!!!

A/N This chapter has a lot to do with Sookie growing up. That is why some of it will be inner dialogue her view of events around her. Enjoy!

Chapter 7

I woke up on the couch in the building that Eric owned. For a brief moment I completely forgot about the events of the night before and was totally confused about where I was and how I got there. I felt like I had slept almost the entire day. I had slept sound too. I woke up in nearly the same position I was in when I fell asleep in Eric's lap. The only difference was he was not there when I woke up and I had a pillow under my head and a blanket spread on top of me. I was surprised that he let me sleep in my clothes and also that he let me sleep through the night. I looked around in the apartment taking advantage of the daylight and noticed how amazing it was. Every wall was painted a pretty beige-y color, I'm assuming because it was being shown on the market. It had both an industrial modern look to it, but also felt very homey for being completely empty and a studio. I went to the kitchen to look for a clock. The clock on the top of the line microwave said was almost five o'clock but who knows when the last time it was set, Eric never told me how long the apartment had been vacant.

The kitchen amazed me. It was big and had stainless steel appliances and an amazing gas burning stove. This really shocked me because usually vampires don't put much effort into the kitchen, seeing that they never use anything in it but the microwave and refrigerator. Next to my purse on the dark granite countertop was a small red travel bag with a note:

_Sookie, _

_Eric had me drop your car off at your house and retrieve you a change of clothes and other necessities. I hope these suit your needs. See you tomorrow._

_Pam_

Pam was probably not happy about playing Eric's gopher, I was thankful for her anyway. Inside were some of my personal toiletry items, a towel and a change of clothes from my home. My toothbrush felt like it was a godsend. I took this opportunity to take a shower in private. Eric was most likely asleep in the vampire room, and as much as the memory of our last shower together appealed to me, at the moment I really needed some time to just think to myself.

I headed toward the master bathroom, I saw the smaller half-bath last night briefly after we arrived but I hadn't seen the master yet. It was massive and when I say massive, I mean _massive_. This bathroom was almost the size of my living room with a big dual head shower in the corner and a giant claw-foot tub along the wall. The toilet even had its own little room! I couldn't believe it! I almost wanted to take a picture, but I figured that would probably be tacky. The tile on the walls looked hand-painted and fixtures you could tell were top of the line. This is why the kitchen surprised me because vampires really take the time and effort in remodeling their bathrooms instead.

I started the shower and looked in the mirror at my neck before I got in. The cut was completely healed. "Amazing." I said to myself. I got under the hot water trying to ease the memories of the night before.

_I can now hear Eric's thoughts. Could I now hear other vampires like that too now?_ I had in the past but they were just tiny snippets in their head and Eric was the only vampire that I have heard more than once. I always assumed that if it were to ever come out that I did have the ability to read vampire thoughts, I would have a giant target painted on my forehead, or more like two tiny targets on my neck. My world was full of secrets now.

I was Eric's secret wife. I had the secret telepathic ability to read the undead. I was in a secret building where only Eric and Pam knew my whereabouts. _How would Pam react to this?_ I really felt like we were becoming very close, well as close as we could was so sweet to me talking about the bond the other day, and she took care of me and aided me last night at the bar when she could have easily ended me right then and there. 'Vampires first' was her motto, surely she would feel some sort apprehension to me being able to be inside her mind, or she would want to kill me on the spot. Maybe this secret is worth keeping.

As I got dressed in the bathroom with my hair wrapped up in the towel, I started thinking about running away again. How nice it would be wake up tomorrow and not have to think about vampires and other supes. _It's all just too much. I don't want all of this. _I didn't have a car to drive anywhere, and I wasn't very familiar with this area of Shreveport so I had no idea where I would go or how. Eric would be waking soon and I felt like this was the only chance I had. If I left now, I could leave a note saying that I was going back to Bon Temps and call a taxi, then high tail it out of Louisiana. It was like the other day, just wanting to get away from it all. Go to another small town somewhere and start over. _I am a really good waitress so it wouldn't take me long to find a job._ I felt like I wasn't in control of my life anymore and I needed to do something that was my decision alone. I wanted to leave all the supernatural drama that I was constantly pulled into. If it weren't for them then why would anyone want to take me last night? If the fellowship followed me to Fangtasia and they know where my house is, what is stopping them from taking me another day? The Fellowship has now made their 4th attempt at my life. I was sick of this.

I wanted to leave and go somewhere that no one had heard of me, my ability or my ties to the supernatural. Pangs of guilt shot through me at the thought of leaving my house, my friends and Jason, but then I remembered the house is paid for, all I would need to do is later write Amelia a letter saying she can stay there as long as she wanted as long as she paid the property taxes which really weren't that much. Jason and I hardly spoke to each other now, what difference would it make if I left? Sam I would miss greatly. He has been my best friend for so long now, and has always had my back. I would want to keep in touch with him somehow. Maybe I could make him take a vow of silence when it came to my whereabouts. He stayed pretty much out of conflict. Then I thought of Bill, which made me think of Eric. My two vampire lovers. No other people had affected my life quite the way either of them had. Even though Bill was still liar and somewhat annoyed me with his many, many attempts to win me back, I still had deep rooted feelings for him. It wasn't love anymore in the way you think of loving a boyfriend, but a love that he would always be special in my heart. But he also broke that heart before, and it's taken me a long time just to be able to be in the same room with him without wanting to stake him. If I left maybe I would contact him after awhile, but not for a long while.

Then came the thoughts of Eric. My former amnesic lover, my now present lover, my bonded and my kind of husband (even though I didn't know a few days ago), if I left he would find me. The blood bond GPS would lead him straight to me no matter where I went. And now with this last blood exchange he could probably find me in the middle of China within a couple of days. But the real question is _could I leave him? _A lot of feelings were coming back fast from memories that before I had to force down and make myself forget. Remembering all of the intimacy Eric and I had shared then and now reliving some of it made me long for him. _Maybe he would come with me now wherever I went. He said he would leave everything for me before without his memory. Does he still feel the same way now?_ I felt a strange tickle in my mind a moment later.

_"If I really thought of you in danger and needed to leave, I would go with you wherever you would want to go Lover, but don't let the two imbeciles from last night make you want to leave everything behind."_

I jumped and gasped at myself in the mirror when I heard him in my mind. I had been alone in the closed bathroom absently brushing my hair deep in thought for who knows how long, I must have completely lost track of time.

_"Ha! I found a new way to make you jump!"_

I came out of the bathroom to find Eric standing in the kitchen leaning against the counter drinking a bottle of TrueBlood wearing nothing but a pair of jeans. I couldn't help but stare for a moment. He looked like a Time's Square billboard ad for TrueBlood. The sight of him almost made me forget how mad I was.

"Eric! How long were you listening!" Getting back on track.

"Long enough to not like the idea of you running away yet again from your problems."

"Why could I not feel it when you woke up?" I thought for sure that his brain would click on much like the way human brains do when they wake. That's why I took advantage of the time alone to think so I wouldn't have to worry about a situation like this.

"I wanted to see if I could block myself out, much like I do with other vampires. I was not sure if it would work but I am happy to see that it does."

"So what makes you think that you can just mosey on over into my mind whenever you want and you get to have free reign to block yours from me?"

"You can block me out anytime you want to. You were not at the time when I rose, and I am glad because of that. I got to test my theory. I was not trying to invade your privacy."

"So how long have you been awake _testing_ your theory?"

Sookie, you cannot keep running away from your problems. You are so naive when it comes to handling difficult situations, you--"

"Difficult situations?" I interrupted loudly. "The fellowship tried to come after me _yet_ again last night, and now come to find out not only can I read your mind, you can read mine! How do you expect me to act Eric? All I want to do is just get away from everything and everyone. If I start new some place else then I don't have to worry about this kind of stuff anymore."

Eric set the bottle on the counter and walked toward me. He put one hand on the small of my back and pulled me toward him using his other hand to touch the side of my face. "The Fellowship's threat is something that I am looking in to. It was obviously not a well thought out plan. With you by my side, your safety is not something that I want you to worry about, that is my concern. I will protect you. As for our newfound abilities, as I said last night, the less who know, the better. We can use this to our advantage."

"My God Eric, can't you think of something other than strategy? I don't think of it as an advantage at all!" At that he let go of me, took a step back and stared me directly in the eyes with no emotion like I was a child.

"Sookie, I have had enough of your outbursts." If I didn't know any better I would think he was trying to glamour me. "I have lived a very, very long time. How do you think I have survived for this long if not for strategy? I know that you think of this as another nuisance but it is not. I will not stand for you to keep fighting me at every chance you get. You need to learn to accept what happens and hopefully trust me. When have I ever failed you?"

_Shit, he's right. _I thought honestly, forgetting that now there was someone else in the room that could hear my thoughts. I could then feel the tension and anger ease a little through our bond on both sides.

_"Say it again" _He sent back with a small smile thinking of the other night. _"I love hearing you say it." _As much as I hated to admit it, he was right and he knew it. I was just having an outburst like a child and I had to have a thousand year old vampire tell me so.

I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him to me. I rested my head against his chest. "You're right again. You've never failed me, I know that. And I do trust you. You are one of the very few people in my life that I can say that about. I just feel like everything is changing all of a sudden and it's all out of my control and happening too fast for me to keep up with. I know I have got to stop wanting to run away, but that always seems like the easiest thing to do."

He returned my hug and just held me for a moment before pulling back to kiss me on the forehead. "At least now you understand I am always right."

"You've just been lucky that's all." I said back playfully. I can't give Eric all the credit. I've needed a wake up call for some time now and he is right, I have to play the hand that I've been dealt. "So what now?"

"Tell me you're not planning on leaving again." He was being more serious. I could tell he was uneasy at the thought.

"I don't want to leave." And I didn't. I looked up at his face; _I don't think I could leave._ He took my face in his hands and kissed me. A wave of warmth and lust ran through my body as we kissed. I ran my hands through his hair, down his shoulders and back, he picked me up to took me to the bed on the other side of the apartment.

"You _were_ right about something." He said kissing and nibbling at my stomach as he was unbuttoning the black pants that Pam had brought me.

"What's that?" I breathed.

"I would always be able to find you, if you ever left I would never stop looking for you. Now that you are mine, I will always be with you." He whispered into my leg pulling the pant leg off, while running his other hand up my thigh. Hearing him say that I was his turned me on more than I expected. Every time I heard vampires use the "mine" it always unsettled me a little, but now hearing it come from his mouth, I enjoyed it.

"Eric…" I moaned as he made me feel some of the most intense pleasure of my entire life. We've had quite a lot of sex in the past few days and each experience seemed better than the time before. It felt like little explosions were going off all around us and we enjoyed every second of it.

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Pam had packed my black straight-leg dress pants with my pair of black pumps to go with one of my favorite shirts, a low-cut dark green and black swirl designed flowy shirts. I was scared when I opened the bag that she would have picked one of my more provocative shirts but she didn't and I was thankful.

When we got to the bar, Eric had a dry cleaning bag with a change of clothes waiting for him in his office. He changed and then told me to wait in his office while he went to the front to check on things. The bar would be opening soon. As I waited for him in his office I called Amelia in case she was wondering where I was.

"Hey Sookie, how's Shreveport?" She said when she picked up.

"How did you know I was here?"

"Pam left me a note saying you were going to be there until tonight or tomorrow, I just saw it this morning when I got home."

"It's going pretty well. We're going to hang out here at the bar tonight, I'm pretty sure I'll come home tonight."

"What time do you work tomorrow?"

"At four, so I'm not too worried about coming home late, I slept in a lot today so it shouldn't be too bad." I thought about telling Amelia about the attack from the night before, but I figured that would be better explained later in person.

"Well tell everyone I said hi and I'll see you when I see you."

As we hung up Eric came into the office and sat at his chair. I walked over and sat on the corner of the desk and kissed him. He put his hand on the top of my leg and I put my hand on top of it. "What do you want us to do tonight?" I asked. "Tonight I want us to sit in the middle of the bar for two reasons, one to tell everyone that you are mine and that any act of violence against you is an act of violence against me. _And two I want to see if and how well you can read other vampire minds"_

"What if I can?"

"Then we are in a unique position."

"Eric, I don't want vampires knowing that I can hear them. If that comes out, then all of you will just fight for me and want to use me for politics and I don't want to do that. I've done the human lie detector job before for the Weres, I don't want to do it again."

"_I don't want to put you in that position either Love, that is why we need to see the range of your ability so you can focus and train yourself to not lead anyone into thinking you possess it. Pam is coming, try to read her. She will know eventually one day anyway. She will be great practice for you."_

_Do you trust her with this?_

"_Yes, she is my child and you are my bonded. She would never betray either of us."_

There was a quick knock at the door before Pam came in and shut it behind her. I moved off his desk and over to the chair in front of it. Pam stood beside me.

"Master." She nodded her head toward Eric.

"Pam." Eric said back. "Who is on door duty tonight? I do not want a repeat of last night. I want strict enforcement of who enters my facility."

"I am tonight, and I assure you I will not permit anyone who has never been here before. It is Wednesday, I do not expect a lot of new customers."

"Neither do I, Sookie will be with me all night, if for some reason at any time I cannot be with her, I want you by her side." He said like I wasn't sitting right in front of him.

"Yes Master." She looked at me and smiled. "How are you tonight Sookie? I hope I picked out an outfit for tonight you approve of." "_I wanted to bring the red halter but Eric wouldn't approve."_

Hearing Pam's mind shocked me. Anticipating her thoughts made them much more startling when I actually heard them. I immediately tensed up and took a deep breath in. It was such an innocent thought, so normal. I tried not to show that I heard it, Eric acted as if he didn't notice but Pam quickly got a quizzical look on her face and looked at Eric.

"_Can she hear us?" _Pam asked Eric without speaking. She didn't ask him in a sentence like that, but more like a full thought almost like an image being pushed into his brain. Now this was freaking me out. I knew that vampires could communicate to each other without speaking, but actually seeing it happen in front of me being fully aware of what was being said was unnerving. I sat back in the chair feeling like I couldn't breathe. Eric pushed back to Pam that he didn't know if I could.

"_Sookie calm down. Use this as an opportunity to train yourself so you don't give yourself away. Look at how quick Pam could catch on." _Eric thought to me quickly.

"This outfit is great, thank you. This is one of my favorite shirts actually. You have great taste." I said back with a grin. Pam wasn't buying it.

"Hmm… I like to think I do. " She smiled broadly at me easing my tension a little. _"I think it looks like shit on you." _

I was not expecting that curveball. I must have looked like she punched me in the chest. My eyes widened and my head jerked slightly. I was giving it away. I tried to swallow the growing lump in my throat. I was trying so hard to not let tears form in my eyes.

On the outside Pam stood completely composed with her hands in front of her the whole time and had a big smile on her face, having pleasant small talk with me, but on the inside she just insulted me to my face. I have been given insults like that before in my life and they hurt every time. I thought of Pam as a friend and hearing something like that shook me to the core.

"_I knew that would work! I knew it! Can you hear me Sookie?"_

I could feel Eric try to give me a little courage. I took a deep breath in and stood up. "Excuse me, I'm going to the ladies room." Maybe if I got a moment to myself I could come back better prepared for what Pam could throw at me. I stood up and walked toward the door.

"_Why are you leaving? Upset I found out so soon? I mean really? Did you really think you could keep something like this from me Sookie? You know I am smart…"_

Good Lord she was attacking my brain with half amused, half annoyed mixture of thoughts. She was cheering herself and trying to get a rise out of me at the same time. I had to force her out of my mind. When I came back a couple minutes later, she picked up right where she left off keeping her outside appearance perfectly natural.

"_Glad you could make it back without getting attacked. I could keep this up all day Sookie. You think I can't get you to crack. You really underestimate me…"_

"So when are you opening tonight?" I asked steadily. I looked over at the clock and it was nearly eight. Eric was looking at something on his computer and Pam turned to me.

"In just a few minutes." She said lightly. _"Why do you care when we open? Can't stand sitting in here anymore with me picking your thoughts? I figure if I keep you attention, Eric won't be able to. Is he in on this with you? This is something he would encourage…" _I'm going to the door now, Master." She bowed to Eric and walked toward the door. _"Oh this is going to be fun." _ Was the last thing I heard before I blocked her out. She smiled at me then shut the door.

"Were you able to block her?" Eric asked me.

"Not at first. It was so weird to hear her like that. The whole time I've known her, her mind has been quiet to me, and now tonight she put everything on full blast and bombarded me with every thought in her head."

"She caught on a lot quicker than I thought. I knew it wouldn't take her long but you didn't even last 3 minutes." He chuckled. He couldn't help it, he was proud of his child, but he was also worried for my safety from other observant vampires. "What did she say that got to you so much at the beginning? You were thinking too many thoughts to keep up with."

"I could hear her ask if I could hear you, and then she told me I looked like shit in my clothes. She's never insulted me like that before and it shocked me."

"She didn't mean it. You look beautiful. She was just trying to call your bluff."

I didn't peg Eric for a poker player. "I know it just surprised me."

He took my hand in his and kissed it. "Come on Lover, lets go out to the bar now. Tonight will be interesting."

I had a feeling he was right. He was on a roll with that recently.

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More to come with Sookie's training! Please keep leaving the great reviews! I love hearing what you think!


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